Earlier this week Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he took ‘full responsibility’ for the actions his government took after the UK’s COVID death toll passed 100,000.

He said he was “deeply sorry for every life lost” and the "did everything that we could to minimise suffering and minimise loss of life in this country as a result of the pandemic". But he said it was too soon to learn the lessons from the pandemic response.

Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty has admitted that England got key parts of its coronavirus response wrong. He highlighted medical advancements, while also admitting the Government acted too slowly on policies such as face masks rules.

Labour also criticised the prime minister for making "monumental mistakes" in delaying acting on scientific advice over lockdowns three times.

"A legacy of poor decisions"

Poor decisions made by the UK before and during the pandemic led to one of the worst death rates in the world, scientists have said.

Public health expert from the University of Edinburgh, Prof Linda Bauld, said the UK's current position was "a legacy of poor decisions that were taken when we eased restrictions".

Speaking to the BBC she said the lack of focus on test and trace and the "absolute inability to recognise" the need to address international travel led to a more deadly spread of the virus and also bringing in new strains.

Prof Sir Michael Marmot, who carried out a review of inequalities in Covid-19 deaths, said the UK had entered the pandemic "in a bad state" with rising health inequality, a slowdown in life expectancy improvements and a lack of investment in the public sector.

Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth rejected Mr Johnson's claim that he had done "everything we could" to minimise the death toll, adding: "I do not accept that." He said the prime minister had been given scientific advice to impose lockdowns and "pushed that back" - not only in March but again in September and December.

The government also failed to create a working contact-tracing system, did not introduce effective health controls at the borders and still did not offer "proper sick pay", he said.

The UK could still face a further 50,000 more coronavirus deaths, a scientist has told the government.

'Sickened' NHS doctor scolds Boris Johnson after 'we did everything we could' comment

An NHS doctor has torn into Boris Johnson on Good Morning Britain after being left 'sickened' by his 'we did everything we could' comment. Dr Rachel Clarke, a palliative care doctor and author, blasted Boris for that comment, calling it an outright "lie."

"I was absolutely sickened when I heard him say that because it was patently and obviously a lie," Dr Clarke told Ben Shephard and Susanna Reid.

"He didn't lockdown promptly, he didn't close our boarders, he didn't protect our care homes, he threw vulnerable people to the wolves in care homes.

"He didn't do any of the things first time around that could have helped, and worse, he repeated the same mistakes the second time around.”

"All of us as doctors we are used to making difficult decisions and having to look people in the eye and say 'I'm sorry I have to tell you your loved one is dying' - we can't shirk that, that's leadership, that's being tough and doing a good job.”

"Boris Johnson stands up in front of the cameras and he doesn't even have the decency to brush his hair and he looks the country in the eye and he doesn't tell the truth.”

"It's heart-breakingly bad right now, it is so much worse than the first wave. First of all, staff are running on empty. They are broken, many have post-traumatic stress disorder from first time around," Dr Clarke said.

"Sometimes colleagues can even express suicidal thoughts because it is so hard. The hospitals are full to breaking point. Often the patients seem younger. Sometimes we have patients in their 20s and 30s in intensive care.”

"Pregnant women in intensive care with no other illnesses just coronavirus. Sometimes we will see three generations of one family in intensive care. They mixed at Christmas and now literally three generations you see them die one after another.”

"That is unimaginably bad. Before Christmas we were screaming from the rooftops 'please lockdown, please lockdown properly' and it didn't happen so here we are now with over 100,000 deaths - and part of the trauma for staff is that it didn't have to be like this."

When asked about the government's "legacy of poor decisions", Mr Johnson said ministers followed scientific advice and did everything they could to minimise suffering. He said there were "no easy solutions" but the UK could be proud of its efforts to distribute the vaccine.

Next month, we hope to see a detail of how the government will start lifting the lockdown, a senior government source told the BBC.

It will include factors such as the number of hospitalisations and deaths, the progress of the vaccination programme, any changes to the virus and the impact easing restrictions might have on the epidemic - but will be dependent on emerging data about how effectively the vaccine stops the virus spreading.

The UK has the highest death rate in Europe and is the fifth country to pass 100,000 deaths, coming after the US, Brazil, India and Mexico.