hello. welcome to bbc news. the latest viewers for the viewers regulators headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. talks held to try and avert a crisis. what about those who have already fled? we have a special report on refugees trying to reach turkey. this journey is full of risk but many feel this is their best hope. the uk government condemned for its handling of covid, described as an of the country was worst public health failures. and making a statement in the world of comic books.
on all federal workers and large companies. but is the governor s order legal? we ll speak to the mayor of austin. hello, welcome to the programme. how did the uk a country that, pre covid, had been held in such high regard for its pandemic preparedness, end up with one of the highest death tolls per capita of any large economy? the first official report into what went wrong was released today, a joint inquiry by two parliamentary committees, and it comes to some damning conclusions. the committees, led by two conservatives, said the failures amounted to one of the worst public health failures in uk history. thejohnson government had followed the science so unquestioningly that politicians and scientists fell victim to a form of groupthink
this is bbc news. i m shaun ley. the headlines at 8pm. a damning report from mps who call the government s early handling of the pandemic one of the worst public health failures in uk history, costing thousands of lives. early decisions, in particular our slowness to lockdown, did have consequences, and we ve got to confront the need to learn lessons from this. the report criticised the chaotic system of test and trace and moving infected patients into care homes. families of the victims say people died unnecessarily. i think she lost her life because mistakes were made by the government. and i want to know about that, i want to hear about it in a fulljudicial inquiry.
the virus, though the emergence of a new variant wasn t then known. labour said the report s stark conclusions couldn t be ignored. to use language that this . was one of the worst public health failures in the uk, - that is a damning indictment. and my thoughts are with - the families who ve lost people because of these failures. the mps report is highly critical of the test and trace system in england. it says it was set up much too late and that capacity should ve been built up much earlier in the pandemic, in line with some other countries. halting community testing in the early weeks had cost lives, according to the report. just one of the government s failings, said the former downing street adviser who d given evidence to mps. me and others put into place work to try and improve the system in 2020 after the first wave. unfortunately, the prime minister, being the joker that he is, has not pushed that work through. the covid pressure in care homes
minority ethnic backgrounds to die in the pandemic. mps said today it was a result of the inequalities in our society. he was a result of the inequalities in our society- was a result of the inequalities in our society. he had never been ill in my living our society. he had never been ill in my living memory, our society. he had never been ill in my living memory, it our society. he had never been ill in my living memory, it was - in my living memory, it was his first time in hospital. and it was terrifying. the government has actually spoken about levelling up, and leaving no community behind, i think was the worst that they used. that is very vague. we really need to see actual change. but that is very vague. we really need to see actual change. that is very vague. we really need to see actual change. but while mps have called the to see actual change. but while mps have called the government s - to see actual change. but while mps have called the government s early l have