Ex-prime minister tells COVID inquiry that UK erred in focusing too much on threat of a flu pandemic

By SYLVIA HUI
Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — Former British Prime Minister David Cameron has told a public inquiry that his government made a mistake by focusing too much on preparations for a flu pandemic rather than considering other types of pandemic in the years before the COVID-19 outbreak. Cameron led Britain’s Conservative government from 2010 to 2016. He is the first politician to be questioned in a wide-ranging inquiry into the U.K.‘s preparedness for the coronavirus pandemic, how the government responded and what lessons can be learned for the future. The U.K. had one of the highest COVID-19 death tolls in Europe, with the virus recorded as a cause of death for almost 227,000 people.