Report says UK's slow coronavirus lockdown cost thousands of lives

The UK's first comprehensive report on the Covid-19 pandemic was released on Tuesday. Citing the report, lawmakers said Britain's failure to impose a lockdown in the early days of the pandemic cost thousands of unnecessary deaths.

Britain's failure to impose a lockdown in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic cost thousands of unnecessary deaths and ranks among the country's worst public health blunders, lawmakers concluded Tuesday in the nation's first comprehensive report on the pandemic.

The deadly delay derived from the failure of British government ministers to question the recommendations of scientific advisers, resulting in a dangerous level of "groupthink" that caused them to dismiss the more aggressive strategies adopted in East and Southeast Asia to limit infections, the report said.