Unequal impact of Covid should be part of UK inquiry, says chair

Hallett calls for greater focus on minority ethnic people, children and mental health

The chair of the UK Covid-19 public inquiry has urged the prime minister to significantly widen its scope to better examine the pandemic's unequal impact on minority ethnic people, on children and on mental health.

Heather Hallett asked Boris Johnson to beef up the inquiry after receiving more than 20,000 responses to a public consultation on the government's draft terms of reference, which many civic groups complained were too narrow. If the prime minister ratifies the redrawn terms, it will considerably extend a statutory inquiry that some experts predict will be the largest in modern British history.