Early Covid response in Wales ‘inadequate’, report finds

The Welsh government’s initial response to Covid was “inadequate”, with ministers in Cardiff “overly reliant” on the UK government to take the lead, according to the public inquiry into the pandemic.

The inquiry’s report, published on Thursday, considers the response of all four governments across the UK to the pandemic.

More than 12,000 people died in Wales as a result of Covid between 2020 and August 2024.

In a statement, Eluned Morgan said the Welsh government “was committed to learning lessons from the pandemic”, adding they would “take time to read the report and work with the other UK governments over the coming months to carefully consider and act on its recommendations”.

The report is based on evidence gathered during the inquiry from key witnesses, including many in Wales when the inquiry sat in Cardiff last year.

The report said the response of all four governments across the UK was “a repeated case of too little, too late”, which meant the first lockdown became “inevitable”.

It also said decisions taken by Welsh ministers in the final months of 2020 – during the second Covid wave – were the “likely” reason why Wales had the highest mortality rate of the four UK nations at that time.

“It is likely that this was the result of a combination of failed local restrictions, imposing the [two-week] firebreak too late, and the decision to relax measures more quickly than scientists advised,” the report found.

However, the report also states the Welsh cabinet, led by the then-First Minister Mark Drakeford, was “effective” at making decisions.

A key feature of the UK response to Covid was that it was managed under public health legislation rather than the Civil Contingencies Act, as a result of which decisions fell to devolved governments rather than Westminster.

The report said the “lack of urgency” on the part of all four governments in the early part of 2020 was “inexplicable”.

It acknowledged that in the early part of 2020, the Welsh government believed decisions regarding the response to Covid would remain in the hands of the UK government.

However, the report states, “this did not mean that the Welsh government should not have recognised the severity of the situation in January and February 2020 and taken its own steps to prepare for the arrival of Covid-19 in Wales”.

“Both Drakeford and [the then-health secretary] Vaughan Gething relied significantly upon the UK government and on the UK-wide risk assessments, without adequately considering the specific circumstances in Wales.”

The report found there was “an absence of any real strategy pursued by the Welsh government in January and February 2020”.

It also noted that after the first Covid case was identified in Wales, Drakeford attended St David’s Day celebrations in Brussels, rather than a Welsh cabinet meeting.

During the pandemic, the Welsh government took decisions about Covid restrictions that were often at odds with other UK nations.

The report found the divergence of approach between governments caused “confusion” for the public.

It points out that Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland were more cautious when it came to easing restrictions, however, the approach adopted by the UK government “risked undermining” those decisions.