Lockdowns, school closures and limiting gatherings only reduced COVID mortality by 0.2% at

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The original coronavirus lockdowns had 'little to no' effect on pandemic death tolls in the US, UK and Europe, a controversial report suggests. Economists who carried out a meta-analysis found draconian restrictions imposed in spring 2020 — including stay-at-home orders, compulsory masks and social distancing — only reduced Covid mortality by 0.2 per cent.

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The review, led by a Johns Hopkins University professor, argued that border closures had virtually zero effect on Covid mortality, reducing deaths by just 0.1 per cent. However, closing nonessential shops was found to be the most effective intervention, leading to a 10.6 per cent drop in virus fatalities. Their report, which has not been peer-reviewed, said that this was probably due to shutting pubs and restaurants where alcohol is consumed. School closures were linked to a smaller 4.4 per cent decrease. The researchers — who deal in the field of economics, rather than medicine or public health — originally identified 18,590 global studies into lockdowns, which they claim had to be whittled down to just 24 to answer their research question. Critics have accused them of 'cherry-picking' studies to suit their narrative and have raised doubts about the biases of its authors, who have been vocal about lockdowns and vaccine mandates on social media. Most scientists believe that, before the arrival of vaccines and antivirals, lockdowns had a significant effect on cutting transmission and therefore reducing the number of hospital admissions and deaths caused by Covid.

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But there has been a growing consensus that draconian restrictions have led to a rise in non-Covid deaths, thought to be people whose conditions worsened during the pandemic when they could not access healthcare. In the latest report, the researchers admit their review does not answer 'why' lockdowns didn't achieve their ultimate goal in saving lives but they float a number of explanations.

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The pandemic has battered the economies of the UK and US, with inflation rates rising to their highest level for decades. Lockdowns pushed consumer spending to its lowest levels, while border closures and staff shortages choked supply runs.

Meanwhile, furlough schemes and the procurement of PPE and vaccines saw unprecedented public spending. And new mutations could prolong the financial hardship, with economists downgrading their forecasts for the first quarter of 2022 after the emergence of Omicron.

UK Inflation soared to a 30-year high in the UK this year, hitting 5.4 per cent — the highest figure recorded since 1992. The Office for National Statistics said the current rate is influenced by the pandemic, which saw retail sales, goods exports and monthly GDP drop by around a fifth at the start of the crisis.

Covid also sent UK borrowing to its highest level since records began, with the Government plunging another £299billion into debt in the first year of the pandemic. Experts believe No10 will borrow less in the 12 months to April 2022, but the figure could still exceed £200billion. And ministers are proceeding with a national insurance hike, which will see the average Briton paying an extra £214 per year, in part to deal with the Covid-fuelled NHS backlog.

Ministers also wasted £8.7billion of taxpayers' money on unusable personal protective equipment (PPE) which was not up to standard. A total of £12.1billion was spent on PPE in the first year of the pandemic alone. And the UK spent billions ordering 540million doses of eight different Covid vaccines. While the Prime Minister pledged to donate 100million jabs, hundreds of million of jabs are still left over.

US Inflation spiked to 7 per cent in the US in December, marking the seventh month in a row that the figure has soared above 5 per cent. Covid-related supply problems, that continue to impact the price of goods, are partly behind the rise. National debt skyrocketed to $31.3trillion after huge sums were borrowed during the pandemic — four years earlier than expected. And GDP fell at the quickest rate seen in 70 years when lockdown restrictions were implemented in 2020.

The US sought $5trillion to combat the pandemic to support the unemployed and small businesses and issue stimulus cheques worth thousands of dollars to Americans. They suggest that lockdowns may have greater unintended consequences than was previously thought.

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