Giving evidence to MPs on the handling of the pandemic, the PM's ex-chief adviser said the UK had failed to "hear the alarm bells" when

Government fell disastrously short in dealing with Covid - Cummings

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2021-05-26 12:30:05

Giving evidence to MPs on the handling of the pandemic, the PM's ex-chief adviser said the UK had failed to "hear the alarm bells" when the virus hit other countries early last year.

"I don't think anybody could accuse this government of being complacent about the threat this virus poses," he told MPs at Prime Minister's Questions.

Mr Cummings is being questioned by the Health and Science select committees for their inquiry into "lessons learnt" on the government's response to the pandemic.

He told the MPs that "senior ministers, senior officials, senior advisers like me fell disastrously short" of what the "public expects during a crisis like this".

He apologised for the "mistakes that were made", saying: "I'd like to say to all the families of those who died unnecessarily how sorry I am."

Mr Cummings said there had been "thousands and thousands of better people" in the UK to lead the country instead of Mr Johnson or his Labour rival when the crisis broke, Jeremy Corbyn.