inquiry

The Welsh government's initial response to Covid was "inadequate", with ministers in Cardiff "overly reliant" on the UK government to take the lead, according to the public inquiry into the pandemic.

However the inquiry says this meant that that ministers and advisers "were often excluded from decision-making", with important choices often made "outside the formal structures" of government.

The criticisms which were contained in the inquiry's second report examined government decision-making at the time.

Chairwoman of the inquiry, former judge Baroness Hallett, said the UK's response could be summarised as "too little, too late".

About 23,000 deaths could have been prevented in England if the first Covid-19 lockdown was introduced sooner at the start of the global pandemic, a public inquiry found Thursday.