Just one in three think government has done a good job managing coronavirus pandemic

The UK government’s handling of the coronavirus is unlikely to become a blueprint for responding to any future pandemics as a survey has revealed that just one in three people think the government has done a good job.

The UK has become one of the countries hardest hit by Covid-19 with experts listing a litany of failures including shortages of protective equipment, a delayed lockdown, excess care home deaths and the abandonment of early contact tracing

At the time of writing, the official UK death toll was 39,369. But the real total, when excess deaths are accounted for, stands at more than 50,000, according to Office for National Statistics (ONS) data.

A new poll, conducted by YouGov on behalf of campaign group March for Change, found just 31 per cent of adults believe the government is doing a good job, while 44 per cent said it was doing a bad one.

Asked if there should be an independent public inquiry into how the government has handled the pandemic, 58 per cent said there should be.

Regional divides were also revealed in the data, as people in London (56 per cent) and Scotland (58 per cent) were the most likely to think the government is doing a bad job, compared to 40 per cent in the North, 40 per cent in the South and 38 per cent in both the Midlands and Wales.

March for Change, a grassroots campaign group supported by science and health professionals, has been calling for an urgent public inquiry into the government’s response to coronavirus ahead of a possible surge this winter.

The World Health Organization has warned of a “double wave” in the coming months, with a second round of Covid-19 combined with an outbreak of seasonal flu or measles.

Dr Hans Kluge, director for the WHO European region, told The Telegraph now is the "time for preparation, not celebration" as countries across Europe begin to ease lockdown restrictions.

Martin McKee, professor of European public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said improvements in regional and national communication, procurement and international engagement must be stepped up before a second wave.

If social distancing measures are relaxed and the government does not get on top of the issues which have manifested in the last few months, “we'll have the same problems again,” Prof McKee said.

He said there had been a "shift" in the government's strategy recently "away from prioritising health to prioritising the economy", and warned of the consequences of this move.

"Because ultimately, if you don't get the health issue under control in the long term the economy will suffer," he said.

To help lift lockdown the Government recently launched its new Test and Trace strategy, hailed by Boris Johnson ase “world leading”. But the scheme has already got off to a rocky start with leaked documents showing fewer than half the people whose details have been handed to the scheme because they are at risk of coronavirus have been contacted.

Maria Savona, professor of innovation and evolutionary economics at the University of Sussex Business School, said the UK is “far behind developing a 'world class' test and trace system”.

And some contact tracers have allegedly waited up to five days for login details, Prof McKee said, with some of his colleagues working in the scheme calling it “completely chaotic”.

Prof McKee said it “wasn’t surprising” there were problems with the Test and Trace strategy, and that it should have been handled locally with contact tracing embedded in general practices.

“We cannot go on like this,” Prof McKee said, as he joined March for Change’s call for a public inquiry into the government’s handling of the pandemic.

This latest survey, involving 1,664 adults across the UK, was conducted days after Dominic Cummings, the Prime Minister’s chief aide, gave a press conference at No 10 defending his decision to drive his family to Durham during lockdown.

“I think there's lots of evidence that the Cummings affair has really eroded trust in the government's handling of the (pandemic) because of the unclear messaging,” Prof McKee said.

“And that of course hasn't been helped by the growing evidence that the government is no longer following the science.”

He said this is based on Sage members who have publicly criticised the Government’s handling of the Cummings incident.

Professor Stephen Reicher, a member of the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Behaviours (SPI-B) which provides evidence to Sage said: “The real issue here is that because of these actions, because of undermining trust in the government, because of undermining adherence to the rules that we all need to follow, people are going to die.""

Dr Mike Galsworthy, co-founder of March for Change, said there was “huge concern” across the country following the revelations about Mr Cummings’ alleged rule break.

“The government’s stonewall response to public anger over those breaches followed by its hurried loosening of lockdown, despite challenge from top health experts, has served to shake confidence in the government’s choices,” he said.

Calling for a full public inquiry into the UK’s handling of the coronavirus crisis, Dr Galsworthy added: “In crises we must adapt rapidly. Lessons must be learned and applied quickly before any further infection spikes, or lives will be lost needlessly.

“A large part of any successful response involves public trust and compliance – and this must now be urgently re-gathered.”

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