Edinburgh coronavirus deaths revealed as Covid inquiry enters second phase

As senior civil servants and key aides to Boris Johnson are questioned by the Covid-19 inquiry, we reveal how many people have died of the coronavirus since the pandemic erupted in 2020.

As of October 13, 228,448 people across the UK had died with Covid-19 on their death certificate by date registered.

In Edinburgh, for which the data goes up to October 22, 1,386 people were registered dead due to the coronavirus. It means 263 per 100,000 people in the area have died due to Covid-19.

The Covid inquiry is in the second module, which looks at political governance and aims to learn lessons for the future.

Dominic Cummings, who was Mr Johnson’s top adviser, and Lee Cain, the former director of communications for No 10, were questioned on Tuesday, while Helen MacNamara, who served as deputy cabinet secretary and ethics chief, and Professor David Halpern, who headed up the Behavioural Insights Team, provided evidence on Wednesday.

Each exposed the Government's poor preparedness and ill decision-making in dealing with the pandemic, leading to more deaths than necessary.

On Wednesday, Ms MacNamara slammed the Government's "toxic" and "macho" culture. She said women were "ignored and excluded", and criticised Mr Cummings calling her a "c***" in a WhatsApp message to Mr Johnson.

She also criticised then Health Secretary Matt Hancock, saying his record with the truth was questionable and had "nuclear levels" of overconfidence.

She shared an anecdote about Mr Hancock, saying he adopted a cricket batsman’s position after trying to comfort him in April 2020. She said he told her, "they bowl them at me, I knock them away".

"Hundreds of civil servants and potentially ministers" broke lockdown rules, Ms MacNamara said, recalling there likely wasn't a single day when the regulations were followed properly in Downing Street.

Later that day, Professor Halpern said he believed Mr Cummings breached Covid-19 lockdown rules, and his actions were "atrocious" and blew a hole in public confidence. He said rule-based approaches are "brittle", and breaches of the regulations lead to disobedience in the general public.

On Tuesday, Mr Cummings took aim at much of the Government's handling of the pandemic, which he said was "fatalistic". He also described the Cabinet Office as a "bomb site" and a "dumpster fire".

Mr Cain repeatedly cited Mr Johnson’s tendency to "oscillate" between decisions such as delaying the response, questioning Mr Johnson's skill set to handle the pandemic.

The inquiry also saw diary entries from former chief scientist Sir Patrick Vallance, showing Mr Johnson suggested he believed the pandemic was "nature’s way of dealing with old people" as he resisted lockdowns.

In October 2020, Mr Johnson told Cain via WhatsApp: "Jeeez. I must say I have been slightly rocked by some of the data on covid fatalities. The median age is 82-81 for men 85 for women. That is above life expectancy. So get COVID and live longer." Mr Johnson suggested the data shows "we don't go for nationwide lockdown".