Pandemic was ‘a turning point in history’ - CM

“The worst-case scenarios were utterly unthinkable,” Chief Minister Fabian Picardo said on Tuesday, as he looked back on five years since the Covid-19 pandemic and ahead to plans for an inquiry to ensure all possible lessons are learned.

Standing behind a lectern, Mr Picardo briefed journalists live from No.6 Convent Place, just as he had done at 4pm daily during the darkest days of the pandemic.

The live broadcast press conference served as a moment of remembrance of pandemic times and those who died, and now five years on, how Gibraltar and the world have changed.

Mr Picardo said the world is now a less stable place, that Brexit remains “an unresolved running sore”, and that the pandemic became a breeding ground for misinformation.

But in the years since, Mr Picardo said, there have been lessons learned and leaving this behind in a written format for future generations is crucial.

“I also want us to remember where we were then and where we are now because five years after our first lockdown there are important lessons we must learn from the Covid pandemic,” he said.

“The pandemic was not just a health crisis, it was a turning point in history.”

He said the Government is looking at a medical inquiry to ensure that any mistakes are never made again, and what was correct can be proceeded with again.

“We think a lessons learned inquiry is a better exercise [than a judicial inquiry] for Gibraltar,” Mr Picardo told journalists.

“We think it's more important that our inquiry will be led medically rather than legally and we'll be setting out timelines for that, quite tight timelines, in order to be able to deliver a result hopefully during the course of this calendar year.”

“So that five years on we can put what we might call a lid on Covid, by having all of the lessons learned ready and the whole chronology from the beginning of the first lockdown to the lessons learned enquiry all done in five years, ready for those in the future who might have to look back at how we dealt with things now [and] might want to learn from what happened and how we dealt with things.”

A remembrance service for the 114 people who lost their lives during Covid will be held this year, and there will be a memorial erected.

During a 15-minute address, Mr Picardo looked back on some of the most harrowing moments of the pandemic, detailing Gibraltar’s darkest days when difficult decisions were made and projections were stark.

“The worst-case scenarios were utterly unthinkable,” Mr Picardo said.

“We were told that if the virus spread unchecked, Gibraltar could face several thousand deaths.”

“The scale of the threat was beyond anything we had ever prepared for in peacetime, beyond anything we could have ever imagined.”

Mortuary capacity was bolstered by niches to bury the hundreds of expected dead.

“We needed that capacity to cope with that overwhelming number of dead bodies we were told we might have to deal with,” Mr Picardo said.

“Soon our bustling streets fell silent. Our schools and our businesses closed.”

He also highlighted moments of resilience, community spirit, and Gibraltarian resourcefulness.

But he recognised that globally the world is a less stable place, in part due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Brexit, price inflation, and the impact of former Prime Minister Liz Truss’ mini-budget on UK interest rates.

“All of these factors are relevant to our economy as they are to all others,” Mr Picardo said.

“In a connected world we are not immune from these realities but we can be prepared for them. We can be ready and we must be united to deal with the challenges on foot and the challenges to come.”

He added that financial strain on Gibraltar’s public finances was huge and borrowing increased by £500million to pay the costs of Covid.

“That was the necessary response to an unprecedented crisis,” he said.

Now, he said, the local economy has recovered and surpasses pre-pandemic levels.

Mr Picardo also looked back on missed opportunities during the pandemic.

At the time many thought that lives would change to the ‘new normal’ and policy changes or projects would reflect changing lifestyles.

After five years, life for the most part has returned to normal, particularly when it comes to the environment.

Mr Picardo noted the step away from environmental policies globally, pointing to the US, and how these values now appear to be very different.

“You don't have a political history if you don't look back and think I could have, I might have, perhaps I should have [done some things differently], but that's a ‘coulda shoulda woulda’ though, [and] we have other problems to deal with now that we are also seeking to resolve,” he said.

“You know which one I'm talking about, the big ‘B’ [Brexit], and no doubt when we write the history of that we’ll also think that we ‘might have, could have, should have’ done things in a different way.”

“If we didn't, we would be so narcissistic that that we would not be worth people trusting.”

He added that Gibraltar has steered a fairly stable course over the past five years, but he took a moment to shine a spotlight on social media misinformation.

“The age of misinformation took hold as so many were confined to their homes,” he said.

“This has led to mistrust by some of us in the institutions that helped to save the lives of all of us.”

“But whilst our institutions are of course fallible, they are also extraordinary and worth preserving because challenges continue to face us.”