10 Bombshells as Covid Inquiry Finds UK ‘failed’ Citizens by Preparing for ‘wrong pandemic’; Healthcare Cybersecurity Risk ‘higher than ever’ Due to Pandemic, and other C-Virus related stories

10 bombshells as Covid Inquiry finds UK ‘failed’ citizens by preparing for ‘wrong pandemic’:

The Covid-19 Inquiry found that the UK Government had ‘failed’ its citizens with a lack of pandemic preparedness leading to deaths and suffering across the country

The UK Government ‘failed’ its citizens due to being ill-prepared for the “foreseeable” Covid-19 pandemic, a damning report has revealed.

A string of failures from those in charge led to deaths and suffering across the country as coronavirus took grip of society in 2020. Covid Inquiry chair Heather Hallett, in her first report into the handling of the pandemic, warned that “never again” can a disease be allowed to tear through the UK in the way Covid-19 did.

In her report, Baroness Hallett painted a picture of a chaotic Government, where “jargon” was used to cover up incomplete tasks, outdated pandemic plans were abandoned and test and trace systems were inadequate. On a sobering day for those in Government, ministers were told “it is not a question of ‘if’ another pandemic will strike but ‘when'” as they were warned to accept her recommendations.

Keir Starmer promised the nation the lessons would be learned “to protect and prepare us from the impact of any future pandemic”. The Covid-19 inquiry, which is expected to continue until 2026, is split up into several modules, with more reports due in the future.

The Mirror has rounded up 10 of the key bombshells from the first report into whether the UK was prepared for the pandemic.

1. Government ‘failed its citizens’

Inquiry chair Baroness Hallett was scathing about the Tory Government, bluntly concluding that UK citizens were “failed” by the Government and civil service. Her report found there was a “damaging absence of focus” on the measures and infrastructure that would be needed to deal with a fast-spreading disease, even though a coronavirus outbreak at pandemic scale “was foreseeable”.

“I have no hesitation in concluding that the processes, planning and policy of the civil contingency structures across the UK failed the citizens of all four nations,” Baroness Hallett said. “There were serious errors on the part of the state and serious flaws in our civil emergency systems. This cannot be allowed to happen again.”

2. Too many deaths

Baroness Hallett told of the “harrowing testimony of loss and grief given by bereaved witnesses”, adding: “There must be radical reform. Never again can a disease be allowed to lead to so many deaths and so much suffering.” Covid-19 was linked to 235,000 deaths and came after a decade of Tory austerity policies which had shrunk the public sector.

The report added: “The massive financial, economic and human cost of the Covid-19 pandemic is proof that, in the area of preparedness and resilience, money spent on systems for our protection is vital and will be vastly outweighed by the cost of not doing so.” —>LOTS MORE HERE

Healthcare cybersecurity risk ‘higher than ever’ due to pandemic:

Healthcare organisations are at a greater risk of cyber attack than ever before due in large part to the Covid-19 pandemic, a new report outlines.

The pandemic saw a sudden global shift towards digitalisation as people moved to virtual contact and sectors rapidly adopted an array of new technologies. The healthcare sector wasn’t exempt, and a push towards virtual care drove the widespread introduction of remote monitoring devices, telemedicine and connected equipment.

As a result, there was an immediate increase in attack surface, and the speed of healthcare’s transition meant that many systems were inadequately protected as cybersecurity teams became overstretched.

These points are considered by GlobalData’s new Cybersecurity in Healthcare (2024) report, which notes: “The rush to shift from office-based work to remote working and from in-person care to virtual care caused by the Covid-19 pandemic significantly increased cyber risk.

“The increased use of technology – especially cloud technology and connected devices – increased the potential attack surface, and the high speed of the transition meant many IT security teams had insufficient time to install adequate security defences. Companies moved more sensitive operations and information online than ever before, making attacks more costly.”

More frequent attacks

Last month, London hospitals were hit by a cyberattack which reportedly had a major impact on Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS trust, with blood transfusions being particularly affected. The attack is thought to have been a result of a piece of software inserted into Synnovis’s IT system by the hackers. In the first week, 800 planned operations and 700 outpatient appointments had to be rearranged.

A month earlier, NHS Dumfries and Galloway confirmed that the mental health data of some children had been published following a cyberattack. —>READ MORE HERE

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