UK COVID-19 public inquiry needed to learn lessons and save lives (22 December 2020)

Summary

With the UK's official COVID-19 death toll exceeding 60 000, and data from the Office for National Statistics indicating excess deaths of more than 70 000, the succession of grim milestones in 2020 has shown little sign of abating, despite optimism around COVID-19 vaccination.

Every single COVID-19 death is a family devastated by loss. The Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice, a group of over 2000 people who have lost a loved one to COVID-19 in the UK, share their stories in this Lancet commentary, and are campaigning for lessons to be learned as quickly as possible to save lives as the pandemic continues and ahead of the wide-scale roll-out of COVID-19 vaccines across the UK. They call for an immediate public inquiry with a rapid review phase.