UK Parliament: "Failure Due to Not Adopting Korea's Early Pandemic Strategy"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Cho Hyun-ui] The UK Parliament has pointed out that the UK's initial response during the COVID-19 pandemic was one of the worst public health failures in the country's history.

On the 12th (local time), according to BBC, The Guardian, and others, the UK House of Commons Science and Technology Committee and the Health and Social Care Committee compiled testimonies from over 50 witnesses and published a 151-page bipartisan report titled "Coronavirus: Lessons So Far," which reviewed the merits and demerits of the UK government's pandemic response process.

The report criticized that the number of deaths increased due to the "fatal" misjudgment by the UK government and government advisory scientists, who aimed to manage the situation rather than prevent infections at the early stage of the COVID-19 outbreak, and sought to achieve herd immunity through infection.

This approach was based on the influenza response method, and unlike Asian countries that immediately controlled their borders at the early stage of the COVID-19 outbreak, the delayed implementation of a full lockdown led to an increase in deaths.

The report pointed out that due to British exceptionalism and the deliberately slow, gradualist approach?evidenced by "groupthink"?the UK paid a significantly higher price than other countries. To date, the number of COVID-19 deaths in the UK has reached 150,000.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson issued a full lockdown order on March 23 last year, two months after the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), which advises the government on COVID-19 response, first convened to discuss the response.

The report criticized that the COVID-19 response crisis exposed "major flaws in the government system," due to the inability of public institutions to share essential information and scientific advice, lack of transparency, and absence of advice from overseas experts.

The report also noted that although the UK developed COVID-19 tests in January last year and was among the first countries in the world to introduce testing, it failed to capitalize on this advantage and made a "serious mistake" by halting mass COVID-19 testing in March last year.

The report emphasized, "This slow and gradual approach was not unintended, nor did it reflect bureaucratic delays or disagreements between bureaucrats and advisory groups. It was an intentional policy adopted by advisory scientists and the government," adding, "It is now clear that this was a wrong policy."

It further expressed regret, stating, "As a result, more deaths occurred than if a clearer policy had been adopted earlier," and "When a pandemic spreads rapidly and exponentially, each week is crucial."

The report concluded, "The decisions on lockdown and social distancing during the first few weeks of the pandemic, and the advice that led to those decisions, represent one of the most significant public health failures the UK has ever experienced," adding, "This happened despite the UK receiving advice from some of the best experts in the world and having an open democratic system."

The report also expressed regret over why the UK failed to adopt South Korea's successful COVID-19 response during the early stages of the pandemic despite reviewing it.

The report stated, "We can only conclude that no formal evaluation of (the Korean-style response) was conducted. This is bizarre and a negligent omission considering the widely publicized success of South Korea's pandemic response at the time," it criticized.

On the other hand, the report cited the UK's success in COVID-19 vaccine research and development and therapeutic development as positive examples in the pandemic response process.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.