UK Covid inquiry: PHA accepts failings over Covid data and tests

Mr Dawson said there was no flow of information from GPs because they were individual contractors and there were three different IT systems being used by doctors in Northern Ireland at the time.

He said the data block meant the PHA was operating with “a considerable lack of information on what was happening in the community in terms of tracking the disease”.

Mr Dawson said there was better information on Covid cases coming from critical care units than from GPs later in the pandemic because they were receiving direct data from hospitals.

The PHA chief accepted that there had been a failing by the agency to identify the importance of widespread Covid testing of healthcare workers and patients.

In addition, he admitted the agency should have done more to track the affect of the disease on people with disabilities and those from black and ethnic minority backgrounds.

But he also said the PHA did not have enough staff to deal with the pressures of the pandemic and that several senior staff were seconded to the Department of Health.