The government was more concerned about an influenza pandemic, rather than one originating from a coronavirus, so it 'had not adequately foreseen and prepared' for what was required for a mass outbreak of a disease that was not flu, the inquiry was told on its first day.
Pete Weatherby KC, speaking on behalf of COVID Bereaved Families for Justice said the closest the UK had to a plan was the Department of Health's 2011 Pandemic Flu plan.
The Operation Yellowhammer document, which was published by the government in 2019, set out a series of"reasonable worst-case assumptions" about what would happen if the UK did not reach a deal with the EU. But Neasa Murnaghan, speaking on behalf of the Department of Health Northern Ireland, said no-deal preparations may have actually been advantageous for her country's planning.
But she did admit managing the pandemic was"particularly difficult for a newly formed executive after three years with no government". The Stormont assembly was suspended from January 2017 until 11 January 2020, after power-sharing collapsed.'My son died alone without dignity'The retired Court of Appeal judge began the first day of evidence of the official inquiry by welcoming the"dignified vigil" held by bereaved relatives outside the hearing.
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