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Former Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said he is ‘profoundly sorry’ for each death caused by Covid-19.

The UK was recording thousands of deaths per day at the height of the outbreak.

An inquiry is underway into the Government’s handling of the pandemic and what lessons can be learned.

Giving evidence today, Mr Hancock said: ‘I am profoundly sorry for the impact that it had, I’m profoundly sorry for each death that has occurred.

‘And I also understand why, for some, it will be hard to take that apology from me. I understand that, I get it.

‘But it is honest and heartfelt, and I’m not very good at talking about my emotions and how I feel. But that is honest and true.

‘And all I can do is ensure that this inquiry gets to the bottom of it, and that for the future, we learn the right lessons, so that we stop a pandemic in its tracks much, much earlier.

‘And that we have the systems in place ready to do that, because I’m worried that they’re being dismantled as we speak.’

He added: ‘I understand deeply the consequences of lockdown and the negative consequences for many, many people – many of which persist to this day.’

The former Health Secretary seemed to divert some blame onto Whitehall when he faced further questions.

Doctrinal failures had ‘consequences’ in areas such as ‘stockpiles, testing, antivirals, contact tracing, and much more widely’ when Covid-19 struck.

He continued: ‘By not preparing to stop a pandemic – and worse by explicitly stating in the planning that it would not be possible to stop a pandemic – a huge amount of other things that need to happen when you’re trying to stop a pandemic didn’t happen, and we had to build them from scratch when the pandemic struck.

‘For instance, large-scale testing did not exist and large-scale contact tracing did not exist because it was assumed that as soon as there was community transmission, it wouldn’t be possible to stop the spread, and therefore, what’s the point in contact tracing?

‘That was completely wrong.

‘And in my view is, the absolutely central lesson is, of course the difference between a flu and a coronavirus is important, but it is not nearly as important as getting the doctrine right so in future we’re ready to suppress a pandemic unless the costs of lockdown are greater than the costs that the pandemic would bring.’

The Government’s ‘VIP Queue’ for personal protective equipment (PPE) contracts dominated headlines in early 2022.

Mr Hancock added that distinguishing between a flu pandemic and coronavirus pandemic was ‘second order’ when it came to stockpiling PPE.

He also said he asked for more information on pandemic preparedness – in particular vaccine manufacturing in the UK – when he started his role at the Department of Health and Social Care.

Examining a ‘day one high-level briefing’, he said he recalled asking for more detail on emergency preparedness.

Mr Hancock said: ‘I wanted to know about the department’s preparation and its planning processes,’ he told the UK Covid-19 public inquiry.

‘And I recall receiving a note, I think it was in August 2018, and continued to ask questions.

‘For instance, one of the areas that I pushed hard on was the lack of UK domestic vaccine manufacturing given the importance of a vaccine to responding to any pandemic.

‘And that was an area that I worked on intensively up until the pandemic struck and, obviously then, thereafter, so this was a programme of work for me, on which I iterated with the with the team.

‘I kept asking more questions and had meetings on it. And the area that I focused on was on the vaccine manufacturing point, and others.’

The UK Covid-19 Inquiry has been set up to examine the UK’s response to and impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, and learn lessons for the future.

Family members and partners of people who died during the pandemic display have attended the proceedings and held pictures of those lost.

This is a breaking news story, more to follow soon… Check back shortly for further updates.

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