Martin Ford 06 July 2023

Pandemic planning 'insufficient,' says public health chief

The Government’s lack of planning and top-down approach hindered directors of public health during the pandemic, the UK Covid-19 Inquiry has heard.

President of the Association of Directors of Public Health, Jim McManus, said the country was ill-prepared for the outbreak of the disease in 2020.

Prof McManus said: ‘We seemed to prepare for flu when a coronavirus would have been a perfectly plausible scenario.

‘We did not anticipate the severity of this virus in the early stage therefore I don’t think our plans were sufficient nationally at any level of the system.

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#Public health #Whitehall #health #Coronavirus

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