UNIONS have told the government to take responsibility for thousands of needless deaths from Covid-19 after warnings that the NHS will be “decimated” if lessons aren’t learnt from the pandemic.

At the launch of the People’s Covid Inquiry report today, expert panellist Professor Neena Modi said that Britain was “at a crossroads — whether it wants to go down a largely US model or retain the magnificent founding principles of the National Health Service,” as she pointed to the devastating impact of outsourcing during the pandemic.

She spoke out as the latest Office for National Statistics figures revealed that 170,816 people have died with Covid-19 on their death certificate in the United Kingdom, and that there have been over 78,000 excess deaths (deaths over the expected number based on the average for the last five years) in private homes in England and Wales since the pandemic began.