The British government waited too long to impose a lockdown in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, missing a chance to contain the disease and leading to thousands of unnecessary deaths, AP quotes lawmakers as saying in a hard-hitting report.

“There was a desire to avoid a lockdown because of the immense harm it would entail to the economy, normal health services and society,” the report said.

“In the absence of other strategies such as rigorous case isolation, a meaningful test-and-trace operation, and robust border controls, a full lockdown was inevitable and should have come sooner.’’

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