UK's Johnson backs public inquiry into handling of pandemic

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced that an independent public inquiry into the handling of the coronavirus pandemic will be held next year

LONDON -- British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced that an independent public inquiry into the handling of the coronavirus pandemic will be held next year. He told lawmakers Wednesday that the inquiry will have wide-ranging statutory powers and that the government has a responsibility to learn lessons from the pandemic after more than 127,500 died as a result of the coronavirus, Europe's highest death toll. “Our country, like every country, has found itself in the teeth of the gravest pandemic for a century, imposing heart-breaking sorrow on families across the world,” he said. “Amid such tragedy, the state has an obligation to examine its actions as rigorously and candidly as possible, and to learn every lesson for the future,” he added.