Visit of Wuhan tourists to Larne 'dispelled notion Covid could be contained'
The idea that Covid presented no threat outside of China was "very clearly dispelled" when a busload of tourists from Wuhan visited Co Antrim in the early days of the virus spreading, a public inquiry has heard.
The Covid-19 Inquiry, which is sitting in Belfast, heard evidence that an official attended the asymptomatic tourists to give health advice in January 2020, but that Northern Ireland's chief medical officer Michael McBride was "unconcerned" about the visit to Larne.
A senior civil servant also said Northern Ireland entered the pandemic with a "very tired" health workforce, and said that had the Stormont power-sharing institutions not been suspended in the years before, it may have been better prepared.
Richard Pengelly, who was permanent secretary at Stormont's Department of Health during the pandemic, gave evidence to the inquiry - which is investigating the initial response to the pandemic, central government decision-making, political and civil service performance.
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