Covid Inquiry Module 7
The Chair of the Covid Inquiry announced that the Inquiry would be split into modules, with each module investigating a different area of the pandemic, from the Government’s preparedness to their response.
- Module 1 of the Inquiry investigated the Government’s preparedness and resilience for a pandemic.
- Module 2 investigated the Government’s decision-making processes.
- Module 3 looked into the governmental and societal response to Covid as well as dissecting the impact that the pandemic had on healthcare systems, patients, and health care workers.
- Module 4 considered a range of issues relating to the development of Covid-19 vaccines and the implementation of the vaccine rollout programme in the UK.
- Module 5 looked at the procurement and distribution of key healthcare related equipment and supplies - including PPE, ventilators, and oxygen.
- Module 6 investigated the impact of the pandemic on the publicly and privately funded adult social care sector across the United Kingdom.
Module 7 opened on 19 March 2024. This module will examine and recommend approaches to testing, tracing, and isolation during the pandemic. It will review the policies and strategies developed and implemented by the UK Government and Devolved Administrations to support the test, trace, and isolate system. Additionally, it will evaluate the decisions made by key bodies, the available options or technologies, and the factors that may have influenced public compliance.
Module 7’s four weeks of public hearings will run from Monday 12 May – Friday 30 May 2025.
You can watch the hearings live, subject to a three-minute delay, via YouTube by clicking here. To see all of the public information about the Inquiry, please visit their website here.
Nicola Brook hosts the Covid Inquiry Podcast, which discusses what has happened on a weekly basis in court. You can also listen to all instalments of it on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.
Module 7 Scope
This module will evaluate and provide recommendations on the approach to testing, tracing, and isolation adopted during the pandemic across England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland from January 2020 until June 28, 2022. This encompasses Test and Protect (Scotland), Test and Trace (England), Test, Trace, Protect (Wales), and Test, Trace and Protect (Northern Ireland).
The module will review the policies and strategies developed and implemented to support the test, trace, and isolate system by the UK Government and the Devolved Administrations. It will assess the decisions made by key bodies, available alternative options or technologies, and factors influencing public compliance. Module 7 will address:
- The development and deployment of test, trace, and isolate policies and strategies, considering modelling, system capacity throughout the pandemic.
- The availability, use, and effectiveness of different test, trace, and isolate technologies, policies, and strategies, such as lateral flow and PCR tests.
- The structure of the test, trace, and isolate system, including the key bodies involved in decision-making in the UK and Devolved Administrations.
- Enforcement of testing, tracing, and isolation procedures, and factors influencing compliance, such as the adequacy of and trust in messaging.
- The preservation of infrastructure, capacity, and research to improve and develop schemes for future pandemics.
You can read the full provision scope document here.
Core Participant Status for Module 7
The Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group have been awarded Core Participant status in Module 7 of the Covid Inquiry, with Broudie Jackson Canter instructed as their Recognised Legal Representative.
If you are bereaved and aren’t involved in the Inquiry but wish to be, we encourage you to join the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group to make sure you have a voice in this Inquiry.