‘Too little, too late’: damning report condemns UK’s Covid response

The report points to a consistent picture of inaction despite ever-mounting evidence of the threat. Photograph: Justin Tallis/AP

The UK’s response to Covid was “too little, too late”, a damning official report on the handling of the pandemic has concluded, saying the introduction of a lockdown even a week earlier than happened could have saved more than 20,000 lives.

The document also has stinging criticism of a “toxic and chaotic” culture inside Boris Johnson’s Downing Street – which it said the then prime minister actively embraced.