Former health secretary Jeremy Hunt has faced the Covid-19 inquiry for the first time, answering questions on why the UK wasn’t adequately prepared for a pandemic that has so far killed more than 200,000 Brits.
The mood in the hearing room was sober as Hunt entered and began his evidence giving. He began by discussing a “traumatic” moment in a pandemic simulation where he was asked to make a hypothetical decision that would lead “to the death of numerous people”.
Hunt was grilled about how well the Department of Health – now the Department of Health and Social Care – was prepared for the coronavirus pandemic, particularly after years of austerity measures and an NHS budget that did not rise with inflation or expand to suit an ageing population.
