An infected blood scandal in Britain was no accident but the fault of doctors and a succession of governments that led to 3000 deaths and thousands more contracting hepatitis or HIV, a public inquiry has reported.

Inquiry chair Brian Langstaff said more than 30,000 people received infected blood and blood products in the 1970s and 1980s from Britain’s state-funded NHS, destroying lives, dreams and families.

The government hid the truth to “save face and to save expense”, he said, adding that the cover-up was “more subtle, more pervasive and more chilling in its implications” than any orchestrated conspiracy plot.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said it was “a day of shame for the British state”.