The British public deserve answers now, not next spring. So we started our own Covid inquiry

Boris Johnson announced a coronavirus public inquiry will happen, but not until spring 2022. I seriously doubt it, says Michael Mansfield

(AFP via Getty Images)

Should there be a Covid inquiry now? Well, there is one. As ever where there is a failure of duty by the state, the citizens often step in and do the job themselves.

The People’s Covid Inquiry was convened on 24 February this year by campaign group Keep Our NHS Public. Preparation began last year in recognition of the urgent need for an independent public inquiry to address questions about policy and management in the light of an ongoing global emergency. Although the UK has one of the finest public health services in the world, it also had one of the highest Covid death rates during the first wave of the pandemic.

The urgency still prevails. Despite an increasing air of optimism and confidence, we are by no means out of the woods. Furthermore, no one really knows what “being out of the woods” will look like. The so-called Indian B.1.617 “variant of concern” is already taking hold here, overtaking the Kent variant in London and the North West as the most dominant variant in circulation. A failure to suppress this (and other future variants) risks a winter surge. Such a surge is not inevitable but will need effective strategy to suppress spread.