I lost my mum & parents-in-law.. the country needs a full inquiry
THIS week we marked the one-year anniversary of the first national lockdown in the UK.
In that year a staggering 126,000 people have lost their lives to this virus and counting.
When we are bombarded with statistics in the media, it’s easy to lose sight of the human story behind each number.
However, we mustn’t forget that behind the death toll, there are millions of people grieving the loss of their loved ones.
This is something I have experienced first-hand as an entire generation of my family died this year. Almost a year ago after we entered lockdown, my mum passed away.
Without proper testing infrastructure at the time, I’ll never know if she died from Covid19. But that doesn’t matter.
As she lay in her hospital bed, I couldn’t hold her hand, I couldn’t comfort her, I couldn’t tell her I loved her, I couldn’t say goodbye.
A year later and people are still losing loved ones in these terrible circumstances. Just last month, my mother and father-in-law both contracted Covid-19 and died within days of one another.
Muslim funerals are traditionally big as the community comes together to mourn and comfort one another.
Burying my mother and my parents-in-law without bringing together my wider family, friends, and community has been particularly painful. As a society we have been robbed of the opportunity to collectively mourn, instead we are left to grieve alone and isolated.
My family is not the only one to have lost someone, or even an entire generation, to this virus.
Those left behind want and deserve to understand what happened and how as a country we reached such a tragic milestone. A public inquiry into the handling of the pandemic must allow us to understand if there was anything more that could have been done to save lives and how we can prevent such a tragedy happening again.
While I’m pleased the Prime Minister has committed to an inquiry, we need to know when this will happen.
The experiences of the Chilcot and Hillsborough inquiries demonstrate why we shouldn’t and mustn’t delay, for justice delayed is justice denied.
I will mark the anniversary of my mum’s death in a few days, and I know she would want me to fight for justice, not just for her but for all those whose lives have been so cruelly cut short.
export war with the EU. He told MPs: “I don’t think blockades of vaccines are sensible and I think that the long-term damage done can be considerable.”
But the PM had risked inflaming tensions with EU states on Tuesday by joking that “greed” contributed to the success of the UK’s vaccines roll-out. He later tried to backtrack. Officials in
India reportedly described the block on exports of the AstraZeneca jab as a “temporary squeeze” which is expected to last until the end of April.
Figures show there have been no exports of the vaccine from country since last Thursday. It comes as Mr Johnson said pub landlords may be able to ban customers who have not been inoculated – raising the prospect of millions of under-50s being turned away from boozers when gardens open from April 12 or indoor seating from May 17. The PM insisted last month he believed such a move would be a “mistake” and warned it was “discriminatory”.
Asked last night if such a certificate could be required to go out for a drink, he replied: “I think that that’s the kind of thing, it may be up to individual publicans.” But Steve Baker of the Covid Recovery Group of
Tory MPs said: “The
Prime Minister began to tread a dangerous path when he opened the door to domestic Covid certificates. First they said we’ll need them to watch the football, and today that it may be papers for the pub.” And UKHospitality chief executive Kate Nicholls added: “It’s crucial that visiting the pub and other parts of hospitality should not be subject to mandatory vaccination certification.
“It is simply unworkable, would cause conflict between staff and customers and almost certainty result in breaches of equality rules.”
Mr Johnson yesterday faced more calls for a crack down on travel from the Continent as experts fear the South African and Brazilian variants in France could be more resistant to vaccines.
He said: “We have to look at the situation at the Channel. We can’t rule out tougher measures.”
Labour leader Keir Starmer has demanded a “full public inquiry” into the handling of the pandemic.
Children could start being offered the vaccine if an Oxford University study due to report in the summer shows its jab is safe.