Dr Rinesh Parmar, chairman of the Doctors' Association UK, said: "We have seen over the last few weeks that the UK has one of the highest death rates from Covid-19 in the world.
"Health and social care workers rose to the challenge, returned to the frontline from retirement and pulled out all the stops to save lives.
"Some had no PPE, others had inadequate, out of date perishing supplies.
"Alongside caring for patients, we've cared for colleagues and also faced the sad and grim reality of losing colleagues, who themselves were caring for patients.
"Now is the time to learn key lessons to enable us to avoid future pitfalls, protect the frontline and ultimately save lives.
"Our calls for a public inquiry and our petition of nearly 120,000 signatures have all fallen on deaf ears as the Government buries its head in the sand and steadfastly refuses to commit to the learning required to prevent further tragedies."