FAMILIES who have lost loved ones to Covid have called for an immediate inquiry into the UK government’s response to the pandemic.
The Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group has been lobbying for an investigation into how ministers handled the pandemic but has now intensified its appeal after Dominic Cummings, a former advisor to prime minister Boris Johnson, gave testimony to MPs earlier this week.
Speaking before a group of MPs on Wednesday (26), Cummings claimed that tens of thousands of people had died needlessly last year, including in care homes for the elderly. However, Johnson denied that was the case, telling reporters on Thursday (27): "No, I don't think so.”
Matt Fowler, co-founder of Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice, a group that represents thousands of grieving people in the UK, was quoted as saying in The Guardian, “This political pantomime continues to show a level of disrespect to our lost loved ones and brings us no closer to the answers we need for lives to be saved.”
(Photo by JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP via Getty Images)
Coronavirus has claimed nearly 128,000 lives in the UK - the fifth-highest official death toll in the world, and the highest in Europe.
There have been several calls for a public inquiry into the handling of the pandemic; while the prime minister previously resisted this, saying it was not the right time, earlier this month he announced an investigation that will take place in 2022. It will focus on why the UK suffered Europe's worst death toll and one of the world's deepest economic slumps.
It is not clear when that report will be completed.
A former head of the civil service, Lord Kerslake, told the newspaper, “We are either going to carry on with this tit-for-tat briefing or we get to grips with the job. We owe it to the families of the bereaved. It’s down to the prime minister. He has to see the sense of doing it early.”
In his testimony, Cummings told MPs, "Tens of thousands of people died who didn't need to die," and blamed senior ministers and officials including himself for getting it wrong at the outset.
Cummings added that the prime minister was recklessly insouciant in the early days of the crisis in February 2020, even volunteering to get infected with Covid-19 live on television to show there was nothing to fear.
Johnson told parliament he took "full responsibility" but insisted decision-making during the pandemic had been "appallingly difficult" and the government "acted throughout with the intention to save life... in accordance with the best scientific advice."
An airline plane stands on the tarmac as firefighters try to extinguish a fire that broke out in the cargo section of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka on October 18, 2025. (Photo by MARUF RAHMAN/AFP via Getty Images)
BANGLADESHI traders on Sunday (19) assessed heavy losses after a devastating fire tore through the cargo complex of the country's main international airport, as the government opened an investigation into possible arson.
The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) gave an initial assessment of "devastating" direct and indirect costs of as much as $1 billion (£790 million).
Firefighters had brought the blaze under control and flight operations resumed late Saturday (18), airport executive director S M Ragib Samad told AFP, after thick black smoke swept across the runway, forcing authorities to briefly suspend flights.
But Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport's cargo complex -- which stores fabrics, garment accessories, pharmaceuticals, chemicals and other imports -- was left in ruins.
The National Board of Revenue (NBR) also said it was assessing the damage.
"We have witnessed a devastating scene inside. The entire import section has been reduced to ashes," said Faisal Samad, director of the BGMEA.
"The entire import section has been reduced to ashes. We fear the losses might well exceed $1 billion."
He said around 200 to 250 factories export products by air every day.
Smoke was still rising from the charred remains on Sunday.
"The fire spread to every corner -- I don't know if any consignment could escape," said one exhausted firefighter, whose uniform was greyed and hands blackened.
"We were supposed to deliver the consignments to our clients today. All burnt to ashes, I guess," said importer Anand Kumar Ghosh, who said he had lost 52 consignments.
Moinul Ahsan, a senior official at the health directorate, said four people had been taken to hospital with minor injuries.
The cause of the blaze was not immediately known.
But the government said it was aware of growing public concern following a string of major fires in recent days -- including in Chittagong's export processing zone and a chemical and garment factory in Dhaka, where 16 people were killed.
The government said the security services were investigating all incidents "thoroughly", and warned that "any credible evidence of sabotage or arson will be met with a swift and resolute response."
"No act of criminality or provocation will be allowed to disrupt public life or the political process," it said, urging calm.
The South Asian nation of 170 million people has been in political turmoil since Sheikh Hasina was ousted as prime minister by a student-led revolt in August 2024, and is gearing up for hotly contested elections slated for February 2026.
"If these fires prove to be acts of sabotage, and their aim is to sow panic and division, they'll succeed only if we allow fear to overtake our reason and our resolve," the statement added.
"Bangladesh has faced many challenges before, and together we will face any threats to our new democracy with unity, calm and determination. We have nothing to fear but fear itself."
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