The UK's crucial delay in imposing a lockdown during the pandemic led to 23,000 deaths in the first wave of COVID-19, an inquiry into government responses found.

Former prime minister Boris Johnson is blasted in the expert report for failing to grasp the severity of the virus and reacting "too little, too late", the BBC reports.

By global standards, Britain moved sluggishly in the early months of the pandemic.

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If voluntary measures, such as social distancing and isolating those with symptoms at home, had been introduced earlier than March 16, 2020, lockdown may have been avoided, the report said.

But the dithering by the Johnson government during a vital week made lockdown inevitable and led to 23,000 more deaths i

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