Risk assessments for the government before the covid-19 pandemic estimated that an outbreak of a mass infectious disease would kill only up to 100 people in Britain.
The UK’s national risk register in place at the start of the pandemic said “the likelihood of an emerging infectious disease spreading within the UK is assessed to be lower than that of a pandemic flu”.
The finding is one of a catalogue of monumental errors and delays - including on testing, care homes and the timing of the first lockdown - that cost thousands of lives during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a damning report from MPs.
The joint report from the Commons Science and Technology Committee and the Health and Social Care Committee, said the UK’s preparations were