THE Welsh Government has announced its own independent Wales Covid-19 review in the wake of the UK-wide investigation and report.

Plaid Cymru‘s Senedd election manifesto last Spring said they would look at the Labour administration's handling of the pandemic in the Principality, and have now agreed to instigate one.

The previous Welsh Labour Government rejected a Wales-specific inquiry, saying that the pandemic and its handling should be investigated at a UK level.

The UK inquiry report delivered by Baroness Heather Hallett on Wednesday after a £300m three-and-a-half year investigation found that the Westminster Government’s failings under the leadership of Boris Johnson allowed Covid to “spread like wildfire” in care homes.

Despite the cost and time taken on that inquiry, Covid Bereaved Families for Justice Cymru, which represents people who lost loved ones in Wales, has called again for a Welsh inquiry as well, slamming the previous Senedd administration’s handling of the pandemic.

More than 1,700 patients were discharged to care homes from Welsh hospitals between March and May 2020, most having not been tested.

The campaign group said in the wake of the UK report: “Welsh Labour cannot hide behind the science when the real questions concern its own preparedness, its decisions and its failure to ensure Wales had the capacity to protect vulnerable people.

“Why was testing capacity insufficient? Why were statements made to the Senedd suggesting there was no value in testing care home residents?

“Why were the people of Wales not given a clear and honest explanation of the limitations facing the Government? These questions demand answers.

“The failures went far beyond testing. Wales entered the pandemic with inadequate preparedness, known weaknesses in social care planning and insufficient national information about care home capacity.

“Lessons from previous pandemic exercises had not been properly implemented. Restrictions on care staff working across multiple settings were delayed until August 2020, and enhanced sick pay was not introduced until November.

“These were not unforeseeable problems. They were weaknesses that should have been addressed before the crisis struck.

“Health Minister Vaughan Gething acknowledged that more could have been done on capacity and contingency planning and described the delay in introducing isolation requirements for discharged patients as unnecessary.

“This was a catastrophic failure to protect some of the most vulnerable people in Wales. Bereaved families have every right to be furious.”

Following the publication of the UK report, the Plaid Welsh Government released a decision notice on Wednesday saying: “The Cabinet Minister for Government and Effectiveness and the Constitution [Dafydd Trystan Davies] has agreed to the establishment of an independent Wales Covid-19 Review.”

Welsh Conservatives health spokeswoman, Natasha Asghar, welcomed the scrutiny of an "extraordinary and distressing" period.

"There are difficult questions that need addressing such as the why the virus was allowed to spread in care homes and why the Welsh Government took a more draconian approach to lockdowns compared to other parts of the UK," she added.

The terms and remit of the review are expected to be unveiled next month when Senedd members return from the autumn recess.