Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on Wednesday an independent public inquiry, beginning spring 2022, into the United Kingdom’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"This process will place the state's actions under the microscope," Johnson told parliament.

The prime minister has been accused by opponents of reacting too slowly to the crisis, especially at the onset, failing to supply sufficient protective equipment and bungling the testing system.

The U.K.'s official COVID-19 death toll is 127,629 - Europe's worst figure and the world's fifth worst, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Johnson and his ministers have admitted there are lessons to be learned from the worst public health crisis in decades, but point to the U.K.'s swift vaccine rollout as evidence that there were also successes.

35.6 million people in the U.K. so far have had a first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, more than two thirds of the adult population.

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