Children paid 'huge price' in Covid pandemic, Johnson tells inquiry
But he said he had also hoped schools could remain open, calling it a "nightmare idea" and "personal horror" to close them.
He pushed back on earlier suggestions that there had been no plans in place for closing schools in early 2020, saying he had assumed a "great deal of thought and care" was already going into those decisions by then.
The former prime minister repeated an apology made previously for things the government got wrong, but said he was proud of what teachers and schools did to cope with the "unbelievably difficult" circumstances.
Children paid a
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