Why didn't the UK implement testing for Covid mitigation sooner? | Covid Inquiry UK

Sir Christopher Wormald (Permanent Secretary of the Department of Health and Social Care) faces questions in the Covid inquiry.
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#openDemocracy #ukpolitics #covid19 #covidinquiry #conservative #NHS

[@zetectic7968]

Clueless, incompetent & unprepared, that is being very generous to the government. I should add they were more concerned with Brexit

[@alexandradane3672]

By then , not even Brexit - totally out of their depth .

[@isabellewhite3505]

This gov't was concerned with BREXIT & earning from gov't PPE contracts

[@petemccalam5727]

Talk about someone struggling to save his skin........JAIL!

[@fje1948]

Lock this guy up …… How can this fellow being in charge of our health system? Shocking!

[@EthanKristopherHartley]

Over the past few months I've seen so many civil servants who were truly working hard to deliver the best they could DESPITE the callous sociopaths in cabinet. I've been regularly impressed by their sense of duty, clear and honest replies, and admissions of errors. Sir Christopher was not one of those civil servants. He acted more like Thérèşă Covfefe in a Breakfast TV show studio. But with less charm. Even the KC was sick and tired of him a few times. Each time he changed from questions to statements (even for the person changing the exhibits) my heart skipped and I just thought "Chris, you done screwed up bad... 😳😁"

[@hawsrulebegin7768]

When do the liars in charge get arrested for negligence ?

[@sugarfree1894]

The constant passing of the buck is the mark of an authority with no authority.

[@marythorpe928]

We the people must find a way of holding all of these charlatans to account.. Personally I woudl like to see them all in jail

[@tonychorley4936]

They do have authority, but no accountability, it is bonkers.

[@robtyman4281]

It's the mark of a country in real, and serious decline. It is reflected in how successive Tory governments have gone about everything they've had to deal with. I do fear for the future of the UK. I don't think this is being alarmist. People need to wake up, because right now we seem to be getting the country we deserve; if people keep on voting these incompetent fools, chancers, and monsters in, time and again.

[@isabellewhite3505]

Just blame Germany, simple!

[@parametr]

- Did you analyse ways of reducing deaths in UK? - Nope - How many parties did you have in No10? - 4 or 5 per week

[@dragonfly6908]

During COVID i was wearing a mask in ASDA and a woman came past me and said she was a nurse and that the mask wearing would not stop transmission.

[@parametr]

@@dragonfly6908 what's your point? note: during COVID I was wearing a mask in ASDA and a woman came past me and said she was Elvis.

[@dragonfly6908]

@@parametr Maybe Elvis is in ASDA because of their special offers like "buy one get one free".

[@SBryt-h8g]

@@dragonfly6908well masks did help stop the transmission of the air borne virus . Duh. That nurse could also believe in conspiracy theories. Masks have been worn in Asia for decades to help stop the spread of colds & flu- why would Covid be any different?

[@ruthjames469]

I hope money spent and accountability will be included in this inquiry

[@peterjones4620]

Doubt it. There all corrupt.

[@FayFairley-hi3zu]

Never will anybody be under scrutiny for any of the failures.

[@johnwright9372]

That is scheduled for 2025 after a general election and when the short memories of most of the voters have forgotten.

[@chrissilver7719]

Despite a Coronavirus pandemic being a possibility we never bothered to include that as a possibility who had already had experience with SARS and MERS. No test or track and trace for such a posdibility, I think the words are negligence and incompetence.

[@grumpyoldman1618]

Two BBC stories to put this into perspective. All testing was originally centralise on Public Health England. Scotland decided to set up its own independent laboratory from scratch in early February, by April the N Ireland, Scottish and Welsh laboratories - which were all 'new builds' were outperforming England. Coronavirus labs to begin testing in Scotland BBC (10th February 2020) And, outperforming the UK lab How England has been lagging behind on testing BBC (8th April 202) This stuff that the political and media system in the UK will strive to cover up because it makes a comparison between the much better performance of the devolved goverments compared to the UK government

[@parametr]

What is misconduct in public office? The offence requires that: a public officer acting as such; wilfully neglects to perform his or her duty and/or wilfully misconducts him or herself; to such a degree as to amount to an abuse of the public's trust in the office holder; without reasonable excuse or justification. It carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment

[@steventostevin3085]

It took over 12 months for them to test lorry drivers and the same to open isolation hotels. They had opperation cygnus in 2017 where the outcome was so bad they refused to publish the findings. I was tought how a pandemic would spread around the world by air travel back in the 1970s I can still see the text book that showed us what would happen.i thought I strange when the school children came back to Torbay from a trip to Italy and there was no checking and tracing done. I was amazed there was no plan what so ever.

[@moiragoldsmith7052]

And 100's + of dignitaries that flew into Cornwall...and also Glasgow for COP etc.👀

[@richardallmark1589]

The theatre continues ! Convid the biggest wealth transfer in history.

[@stan1050]

.. So far. That was just a warm up.

[@notbloodylikely4817]

He seems deeply amused by the inquiry process.

[@grumpyoldman1618]

The obvious question is why, when Public Health English was originally responsible for testing across the whole of the UK was it dropped by the devolved administrations in January when they set up their own systems which rapidly started to outperform the UK laboratory. It's pretty clear that the devolved administrations knew in JANUARY that the Public Health Laboratory in England was going to fail. QC's not got a full brief here.

[@audreymcgready4329]

This Git has no thought for what they have done. I have never witnessed anything so cold. Just think how much money they get paid.

[@paulmullen386]

the more i watch these people being asked questions, the more you can see that they are just lying more and more.

[@malcolmrickeard6674]

Everyone was still allowed to travel around the world, disregard the rules in many places apart from of course ordinary people sitting in parks or riding their bike in isolated countryside ?¿

[@deekireland3682]

There was a working test and trace system available and used by many EU countries including Ireland. One major difference with that system to what the UK wanted is that the UK wanted to “mine” the data. Totally unacceptable to most people. In ireland we not stopped using ours a couple of months ago. It was Simple, Easy and Reliable. It also held the certification of covid vaccine information for international travel.

[@peterreid2888]

Rubbish I lived there and travelled extensively through the Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland not once was I asked for track and trace evidence, don't believe everything you read or hear.

[@hansemannluchter643]

It did absolutely nothing to stop the spread.

[@therealspixycat]

The t&t in Ireland cost a million or so while the UK spent £37bn so 37.000 times the amount and it was totally useless

[@deekireland3682]

@@therealspixycat that’s right the uk seemed obsessed with over complicating a simple system. I suppose it’s because they really didn’t believe how serious the disease was. Plus they wanted to siphon cash into their pockets.

[@gordonmackenzie4512]

You are using the term “UK” for something that was very much England specific. For example, Scotland upscaled existing NHS systems to create Test and Protect.

[@malcolmrickeard6674]

What I find disturbing is that the virus was well known to be out there, and the people on the ground had more sense by saying STOP travelling and close down the borders to halt the spread.

[@slackdee]

There was no new deadly virus. The only international spread was of propaganda for the financial benefit of the 1% scum-at-the-top leeches. 😀

[@steveturner6770]

This man seems to have a bizarre case of memory loss

[@bigpants6121]

another one.

[@fatbelly27]

I believe secure accommodation in Dartmoor may work in helping them remember, however long it takes

[@janehale4402]

Why did we not err on the side of caution, by late March I was following S Korea's example and wearing a FFp2 mask when shopping. To protect my immune system I took vit d3 supplements. As to how protective these measures were I will never know. I shared my concerns at the time with my Mp Jeremy Hunt, asking him to consider such measures. He never replied. Haslemere in Surrey was one of the first areas in the country to detect a case of coronavirus.

[@stevewilliams2691]

Holding a key appointment but not apparently understanding his role or duties.

[@andyreddy-xy2jn]

More slippery than a greased eel!

[@brendaflower7790]

Is there no one in this country that will govern efficiently, be truthful with the country and actually care about all, regardless of age ,race,creed or colour? Do any of them have a conscience I wonder?

[@mydogky]

in short NO

[@timothykeech7394]

Certainly no one in the Tory Party. I think this may be a wake up call to politicians of all types but the 'crime' of negligence and corruption must be made to stick. Someone must pay for this.

[@bigpants6121]

but these weasels all have healthy bank statements.

[@theghostoftom]

Green party seems the best bet. Starmer nicked all the policies he got to the head of Labour with from them. The policies he has since binned. Labour is just Tory lite and Lib Dems have no discernible policy for anything. Reform as well is just Tories too openly hateful and corrupt for the Tory party. Not a great field out there. Search tactical voting if you just want the Tories out in your area.

[@malcolmrickeard6674]

Obviously not 😢

[@buddywong7933]

Please give the name of the of those being questioned and their job title in your videos so we can remember.

[@gilesk]

What a worm, people need to go to jail for this.

[@allanpowell7208]

No responsibility, no integrity, no competence.

[@bobjohnbowles]

Jail time for the lot of them. Pour encourager les autres.

[@winstonsmith3690]

Ah, the oh so reliable test...

[@paulharrion3398]

Our leaders had the future of the entire nation in their hands. We trusted that the systems in place would be robust and satisfactory to ensure that those in power would do their best for the country. How wrong we were! Will anyone ever be punished? Don't hold your breath!

[@michaelstevens3479]

And still no one has talked or spoken about the airlines open to India and the fact they had to drive the length of Britain to reach Heathrow while we were locked in.

[@helz1143]

Where did the flu go during the pandemic??

[@TheBaconWizard]

Nowhere, it continue and everyone was and remains aware of it with the statistics showing it. Try to keep up.

[@chrissilver7719]

We were all isolating and wearing masks , we mitigated the flu by doing these things. So what happens when people stop coughing over each other.

[@michaelicornelius]

It was just renamed covid!

[@hansemannluchter643]

Masks.. 🤣🤣🤣🤣 You do realise there is NO evidence they work against viruses, right?

[@RandomVideosFirst]

its just come back last winter , had a two year hiatus

[@grumpyoldman1618]

He's lying. . . . . . The devolved administrations of Scotland, N Ireland and Wales, set up testing systems from stratch and were significantly out perfomring England by April. There's a BBC story on it. Why is England lagging behind on testing.

[@peterfinn4704]

W.h.o. yet again who do westminster really work for ? Not the indigenes people for sure .

[@hawsrulebegin7768]

Cretin.

[@slackdee]

@@hawsrulebegin7768 Yes, the WHO is infested with them. 😀

[@chrislaurenceleo]

I dont understand why he can say the science advise did not tell him track and trace would help when we know other countries that did implement it because of scientific advise did so much better than us.

[@malc.s.5373]

This inquiry, albeit welcome, appears to be ignoring, certain aspects of the past 3 years criminality.

[@jamesjarrett52]

We are failed state.

[@capt.bart.roberts4975]

People who don't use The Nhs, don't understand how it works. Whoda thunk?

[@charlesflouvat1829]

Why is he smiling

[@aeonparker-white9306]

So this enquiry seems to be serving its purpose, now everyone is of the belief that faster, harder, stricter measures are necessary 🤔 I'm not sure who's more dangerous, the politicians or those who believe anything they are told by them.

[@yogssier5331]

Obvious what's going on here...a total farce, not an enquiry, but a load more untruths

[@mojominecraftmike]

Pretty much everyone believed that by this point.. there was a massive gap between when the rest of the world got a testing system and when we got ours It literally says in the video South Korea had there’s in January and we got ours in June so they lost less people than us.

[@aeonparker-white9306]

​@mojominecraftmike OK 👍 Mike whatever you wish to believe, I guess your protected by those great vaccines?

[@annishilcock4587]

Perhaps in future we wouldn't have to lockdown because we would have a workable test and trace system., so no not everyone believes that and after this do you honestly think people will believe anything they are told?

[@audreymcgready4329]

@@aeonparker-white9306 Here you clever cloggs. How do you know if someone had the vaccine?. You don't. Away and put your tinfoil hat back on.

[@waynewal971]

Shocking!

[@EarthPoets]

Can you at least put the name of these people in the description please? Those of us who have to go elsewhere to find them, may not return.

[@_openDemocracy]

That's a good point, thank you. We'll add them to the description going forward. For reference, in this video it was Sir Christopher Wormald (Permanent Secretary of the Department of Health and Social Care)

[@EarthPoets]

@@_openDemocracy Thank you.

[@jroobz]

Why is he grinning through this? Erghh

[@joshclayg]

More pertinent a question - why are we still pretending testing has value as a diagnostic 3 years later? Oh yeah, profit.

[@janetjacks3406]

Yes exactly, supposing more testing needed a stupid question to begin with.

[@moragfoster5871]

A fortune has and still is being made ! People are still testing. Utter madness

[@janetjacks3406]

@@moragfoster5871 Indeed, why are people so taken in with the test BS. I believe PCR is the exact same one they use for HIV, if i'm not mistaken.

[@simmybear31]

Squirming like weasels in a sack!

[@martinsepion]

Criminal incompetence

[@worldofameiso5491]

Sir Christopher Wormtongue.

[@freedomfromcocktailjabs]

Get all the bonuses these torys have had during covit or give them all 2 more boosters that would get them out of office

[@Afghan31]

Imagine being so incompetent that people think COVID was planned.

[@williampatrickfagan7590]

Why did the government allow Cheltenham go ahead?

[@ruthguthrie1099]

Roll on Scottish independence. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿❤️

[@alanfrost4661]

Not enough mates had shares in testing companys

[@mrstevecox7]

A weasel. Exactly.

[@audreymcgready4329]

Get that thing in prison with the rest of them. His answers and the way he was giving them was an utter disgrace. Seems they done nothing but rob the country and party.

[@billbhein2949]

Was British exceptionism part of the Government thinking at that time..

[@iaindw1]

This KC is becoming a captain hindsight

[@DCGreenZone]

Early treatment seemed to help people. Let's seen someone call me out on that.

[@grumpyoldman1618]

If you want another indicator of what the devolved administrations knew, and how it was covered up at the time,(the central information is right at the bottom of the piece) it was the establishment of an emergency dental health system. They set one up in Scotland 6 weeks ahead of the UK government. They were at4 least weeks ahead of the UK government in planning. They knew 4 weeks in advance that lock-down was unavoidable. They had a plan. The inquiry and the media will try everyway they can to cover that up - as they did at the time. Coronavirus: Are Dentists Open - BBC 6th April 202

[@johnmcfarlane748]

another one who will be recalled to review his evidence. Our lifes in people like this charlatans hands ,disgracefull

[@sarahp007]

Is it me or is this guy coming across as arrogant?

[@brianbrown6633]

All part of the plan

[@chrislazarou7491]

They looked like chalk and cheese, Istanbul kebab looked amazing and the presentation was great, the gdk looked horrid

[@bluesunquake]

By March, it was clear that Covid would reach the UK, if it hadn't already.

[@sallygardner7615]

Worm by name and worm by nature

[@martinoneill8205]

The only thing their short of saying is (we wer only following orders)

[@therealspixycat]

Why didn't the UK goverment warn the old age homes about the eminent covid outbreak while all the sign in foreign countries indicated as such? Why did the goverment as the scientist assume the worst in the beginning?

[@bigpants6121]

You need to hear yesterdays revelations on why Johnson did not do this.

[@hansemannluchter643]

Testing did nothing to stop the spread.

[@RandomVideosFirst]

The idea was that covid took somewhere between 1-14 days in the incubation period to show any signs of the symptoms , so testing positive say on day 3 (trial experimental drugs March-June 2020), gave you a better chance at surviving vs on day 14 when the viruses completely consumed your body in the absolute worse case. I understand what you are saying, but we wont really know if this helped or not in the first covid lockdown .

[@chrismacoscair]

Knowing you have covid means you don't spread covid, simple, it definitely made a difference, however little its still lives saved. Not disputing it was a money racket for the contractors.

[@hansemannluchter643]

@@chrismacoscair Testing doesn’t save lives. Pretty much everybody ended up getting covid anyway.

[@moragfoster5871]

Read Dissolving Illusions by Suzanne Humphreys and What Really Makes You Ill. Insightful books

[@lestrem11]

Millions of people ignored it. It was never going to work.

[@kirkhunter146]

You didn't even watch the video, it's not about that yet.

[@elliotlambert3817]

America never said they could, Uncle Sam governs the UK.

[@JpDeshaies-wh5tn]

It was probably racist😂😂😂😂😂

[@janetmalcolm6191]

It was definitely ageist...that much is clear. Shocking.

[@gilesk]

So condescending!!!!

[@johnross2924]

Arrrr the scamdemmic, I remember it well 👹

[@annewalden3795]

When did the Scientific community devise a reliable testing kit for Covid ?

[@nevisscot7697]

Follow sweden

[@richardboswell5582]

Good point that way I could of known who the pathetic people were besides the ones who clapped on a Thursday night

[@stan1050]

Like trained seals. Huge psychological warfare operation followed by a democide & now this.. 'The Enquiry'.. & some people in the comments are like, why are they grinning? , why are they so smug?.. Ffs...

[@peterbrailey1788]

Disaster capitalists, after all