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Baroness Heather Hallett has chaired the UK Covid-19 public inquiry for nearly four years
The chair of the UK public inquiry into Covid 19 has defended the cost and length of the process on the last day of hearings.
Baroness Heather Hallett said completing the hearings in under four years was "an extraordinary achievement" but critics have questioned the cost and the duration of the inquiry.
Costing just over £200m, it looked at the response to the pandemic in all four UK nations, opening formally in 2022 with witness hearings starting in June 2023.
Baroness Hallett said when people see the results of the inquiry's work, they will appreciate why it was set up.
In a statement at the end of the proceedings on Thursday, Baroness Hallett said: "There are people who believe it is time to move on from the pandemic and they question the worth of this inquiry.
"I hope that when they read about the extent of the suffering that we've heard and see the results of the inquiry's work, they will appreciate the huge scale of loss caused by Covid 19 and they will understand better why this inquiry was established."
Baroness Hallett said over 600,000 documents had been received and reviewed as part of the inquiry, and more than 350 witnesses had been called to give evidence.
And she urged the public to push for changes she recommended ahead of any future pandemic.
"If implemented, my recommendations should reduce the number of deaths, reduce the suffering and reduce the social and economic cost," she said.
Baroness Hallett will publish eight further reports on topics such as the NHS, vaccines, test and trace, the pandemic's impact on children and social care.
This process is set to last until the first half of next year.
She has already published reports on pandemic planning before 2020 and the conduct of the UK Government and devolved nations during the worst of the crisis.
The cost of the inquiry so far is just over £200 million, with £100 million more spent by government departments providing documents and other information.
"I said at the outset that this inquiry would cost a lot of money and take time. It has done. But I genuinely believe it has been worth it," Hallett said.
The inquiry opened formally in 2022 with witness hearings beginning in June 2023.
It has looked at the pandemic response across all four UK nations.
A separate inquiry set up by the Scottish Government, chaired by Lord Brailsford, is also running and will publish a series of reports this year, followed by hearings on the response of public bodies and policymakers.
