Public inquiry into handling of pandemic in spring 2022 Top Story May 13, 2021 LONDON: The Government will set up an independent public inquiry with statutory powers into the handling of the coronavirus pandemic, Boris Johnson has said. The Prime Minister told MPs the inquiry, which was welcomed by some bereaved families, will begin in spring 2022 and will place “the state’s actions under the microscope”. The inquiry will be able to take oral evidence under oath, he said, adding that the state has an obligation “to learn every lesson for the future”. It comes as a damning report from the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response, commissioned by the World Health Organisation (WHO), said a quicker international response could have stopped the 2019 Covid-19 outbreak in China becoming a global catastrophe.