Covid bereaved families appeal to Andy Burnham for justice for 23,000 victims who died needlessly

Families who lost loved ones in the Covid pandemic are appealing to Andy Burnham to deliver justice for the tens of thousands of victims who died unnecessarily.

“I am asking you to make the same public commitment to Covid bereaved families to ensure the lessons of the pandemic are learnt and acted on, so nobody else has to endure what we went through.”

Matt Fowler (centre), co-founder of Covid Bereaved Families For Justice, after giving evidence to the UK Covid-19 Inquiry

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Mr Fowler added: “Covid-19 has killed more than 230,000 people across the UK.

“Our bereaved community is by far the largest of these groups seeking justice after failures by the state.

“We need your support.”

They show how the virus swept through the capital in April 2020, with 5,967 deaths attributed to coronavirus.

As the pandemic struck, London was initially hardest hit, with 642 Covid deaths in the capital in March, out of 1,568 across the whole of England, or 41% of the total.

It also criticised the “toxic” culture in No10.

Baroness Heather Hallett found Boris Johnson failed to exercise ‘proper leadership’ during the pandemic

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“She seems to have laid into the previous Tory government for not locking down hard enough or fast enough - just when the rest of the world has been thinking that lockdowns were probably wildly overdone,” he added.

However, Mr Fowler, whose father died at the age of 56 in 2020, believes there were many more needless deaths as the pandemic continued.

He stressed in his letter: “We now know that tens of thousands of people died who could have been saved.

“They were failed by a state weakened by years of austerity and decades of underinvestment.

“Government incompetence and misconduct cost lives.”

The group asked for a meeting with Mr Burnham to discuss justice for Covid victims.

A bunch of flowers left at the National Covid Memorial Wall in London

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In response, Health Secretary Yvette Cooper said: "Our thoughts remain with all those affected by the pandemic.

“We recognise the impact that these experiences have had on individuals and families, and the importance of ensuring that their experiences are heard and reflected in the lessons we learn from the Inquiry.”

She stressed that the Government’s recently published Pandemic Preparedness Strategy aimed to improve its approach to future health emergencies and develop the underlying capabilities needed to respond rapidly.