EXPLAINER - Exercise Pegasus 2025: preparing the UK for future health crises

The UK is gearing up for Exercise Pegasus 2025, its largest pandemic readiness test since COVID-19. Running from September to November, this full-scale simulation will challenge the country's response to a fast-moving respiratory outbreak.

Pegasus 2025: The UK’s biggest pandemic test since COVID-19

Five years after COVID-19 turned life upside down, the UK is preparing to run its most ambitious pandemic stress test in nearly a decade.

Exercise Pegasus 2025 is not a drill in the casual sense—it’s a full-scale, government-wide simulation designed to answer a critical question: If another pandemic hit tomorrow, would we be ready?

What is Exercise Pegasus?

Pegasus is a Tier 1 national exercise, the UK’s highest category for emergency simulations. It will run between September and November 2025, involving ministers, the Cabinet Office Briefing Rooms (COBR), and every level of the NHS.

The scenario? A fast-moving respiratory pandemic, challenging the country’s ability to contain an outbreak, keep health services running, and protect the public. It’s the first time since COVID that the UK has tested its pandemic response at this scale.

Who is involved?

The operation is being led by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) in partnership with NHS England and the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA). But it’s not just a health sector exercise.

All 38 Local Resilience Forums in England will take part.
Government departments, devolved nations, and local health systems will play their roles.
NHS leaders at national, regional, and local levels will be mobilised, including Chief Medical and Nursing Officers, Regional Directors, and National Clinical Directors.

Why now?

COVID-19 exposed gaps in the UK’s readiness—from shortages in PPE and ICU beds to delays in clear communication. While much has been done since, officials want to be sure that lessons are truly embedded in plans, people, and practice, not just left in reports.

Pegasus is also running alongside the development of a new Pandemic Response Plan, which will clearly set out:

Who makes which decisions, and when.
How the NHS and social care would respond to different types of pandemics.
How national, regional, and local systems integrate in a crisis.

What will Pegasus test?

The exercise has eight core objectives, but the key ones include:

• Decision-making under pressure – testing how quickly and effectively leaders act to contain a pandemic.
• Addressing inequalities – ensuring vulnerable groups are protected and not left behind.
• Surge capacity – scaling up staff, beds, and resources rapidly.
• Coordination and communication – from COBR to local responders, making sure the right information flows at the right time.
• Combatting misinformation – keeping public trust in the face of false or misleading narratives.
• Supply chain resilience – securing equipment and medicines when global demand surges.

Some of these will be tested in live-play phases, others in table-top simulations or preparatory exercises.

What’s different from past exercises?

Operation Cygnus in 2016 tested flu pandemic plans but did not factor in the global supply chain pressures or disinformation battles that came with COVID-19. Pegasus is designed for a 21st-century pandemic reality—one where:

Information spreads faster than the virus.
Public confidence can make or break containment efforts.
Global shortages and geopolitics can determine who gets critical supplies.

Why it matters to the public

While Pegasus may sound like an internal government drill, its outcomes could shape how the UK protects its people in the next major health emergency. This means:

• Faster and fairer access to care.
• Clearer public advice when it matters most.
• Better coordination between local and national responders.
• More resilient supply chains for essential medicines and equipment.

In short, it’s about making sure the next pandemic doesn’t hit as hard as the last.

The big takeaway

Preparedness is not just about having a plan, it’s about practising the plan until it works under pressure. Exercise Pegasus 2025 is the UK’s chance to find weaknesses now, rather than during the next crisis.

If it succeeds, the country will have a stronger, faster, and more joined-up response for whatever comes next. If it fails, at least the failure happens in simulation, not in real life—and that is exactly the point.

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