As a damning report finds all four UK governments failed to appreciate the scale of the threat posed by COVID-19 or the urgency of the response the pandemic required, Sky News takes a look at the UK’s response to the pandemic as it unfolded.
A 61-year-old man dies in Wuhan, China, after being infected with a new coronavirus. Wuhan is soon identified as the epicentre of the virus outbreak, which quickly spreads.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
The virus starts infecting people in the UK but goes unnoticed. In Kent, 84-year-old Peter Attwood, from Chatham, dies in hospital. It’s believed to be the first known death from the virus outside China.
The UK government declares coronavirus a “serious and imminent threat to public health” – a day before the WHO names the disease “COVID-19” – and introduces legal powers to force people to isolate if they risk spreading the virus.
Boris Johnson publishes the government’s Coronavirus Action Plan to tackle the disease. The document states that “up to one fifth of employees may be absent from work” during the peak of the virus. At a Downing Street news conference, the government’s chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, says: “Once the epidemic is everywhere, restricting travel makes no difference.”
Mr Johnson tells a Downing Street news conference he was continuing to shake the hands of people he met. Later that week he makes a point of shaking hands with This Morning presenter Phillip Schofield and is pictured shaking hands with rugby captain Owen Farrell at Twickenham.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
The Bank of England warns the coronavirus pandemic will result in a “sharp and large” economic shock. It cuts its base rate to a record 0.1% and restarts quantitative easing with a £200bn programme. The next day, Chancellor Rishi Sunak announces the government will cover 80% of employees’ salaries who remain employed but unable to work through the furlough scheme.
The prime minister tells the nation to stay at home or face a fine. All but essential shops; pubs, restaurants, gyms, churches and playgrounds, are shut. Meeting people outside the household is banned and social events such as weddings are stopped. The lockdown takes immediate effect in England, Wales and Scotland. Northern Ireland follows on 28 March.
Boris Johnson and other senior government officials, including Health Secretary Matt Hancock, test positive for COVID-19 and go into self-isolation.
Prince Charles opens a new NHS Nightingale hospital at the ExCeL Centre in east London. It’s the UK’s first temporary hospital designed to treat coronavirus patients and the largest critical care unit in the world.
The prime minister is taken to hospital as his coronavirus symptoms persist. The following day, he is moved to an intensive care ward where he spends three nights. After a week, he is discharged. “Things could have gone either way,” he says, thanking NHS staff for saving his life.
For only the fifth time during her reign, the Queen delivers a special message to the nation, thanking the public for following the government’s rules, paying tribute to key workers and saying that the UK “will succeed” in its fight against the virus.
The prime minister’s chief adviser holds an unprecedented news conference in Downing Street about his decision to drive his family from London to County Durham during lockdown following a huge backlash. Dominic Cummings says he believes he behaved “reasonably” when faced with the prospect of childcare issues as a result of coronavirus. He says he has “not considered” resigning.
England sees some lockdown rules eased. Groups of six people are allowed to meet outdoors and schools reopen to certain year groups. Scotland’s rules also begin to relax with up to eight people from two households allowed to meet outdoors from 29 May. Wales and Northern Ireland only start to ease restrictions later in the month.
Transport operators and passengers are required to wear face coverings on public transport in England. People not following the rules can be refused travel or fined.
UK government borrowing soars to £103.7bn, outstripping economic output for the first time in nearly six decades and confirming the severe impact of coronavirus on public finances.
Pubs, restaurants and hairdressers reopen across England, with the exception of Leicester, which is experiencing a spike in coronavirus cases. The two-metre social distancing rule is relaxed to ‘one-metre plus’. Scotland and Northern Ireland ease lockdown restrictions in phases.
Scotland requires customers to wear a mask in shops. England follows on 24 July. Shoppers in Northern Ireland and Wales must wear face coverings in shops from August and September, respectively.
The UK secures access to 90 million COVID-19 vaccine doses through partnerships with three pharmaceutical groups – BioNTech and Pfizer, Valneva and AstraZeneca.
People in Greater Manchester, East Lancashire and parts of West Yorkshire are banned from meeting others from different households indoors after a rise in infections.
The government’s ‘Eat Out to Help Out’ scheme gets under way offering restaurant diners a 50% discount on food and non-alcoholic drinks in participating restaurants, pubs and cafes across the UK.
The majority of schools reopen in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Pupils in Scotland returned to school in August.
New regulations come into force requiring pubs, bars and restaurants in England to close by 10pm. Hospitality businesses must also serve customers at their tables.
A new, three-tier system of COVID-19 alert levels is established to manage coronavirus cases at a local level. Liverpool is the only area in Tier 3 but Lancashire quickly follows and is joined by Manchester on 20 October.
England moves into another lockdown, this time for four weeks. Non-essential retail closes. People are encouraged to stay at home, but schools and colleges remain open. Northern Ireland and Wales are already under similar, tough restrictions, while Scotland has a five-tier system in place, with different measures in different areas.
A coronavirus vaccine being developed by Pfizer and BioNTech is found to be 90% effective. The following week, another vaccine developed by US firm Moderna is found to be 94.5% effective and on 23 November, a third vaccine created by Oxford University and AstraZeneca is found to be 70%-90% effective.
Be the first to get Breaking News
Install the Sky News app for free
The UK’s four nations agree on plans to create Christmas “bubbles”. Up to three households will be allowed to meet indoors between 23 and 27 December.
A 90-year-old grandmother from Coventry, Margaret Keenan, becomes the first person in the world to receive the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.
The prime minister announces new tier-four restrictions for London, the South East and East of England in response to a new fast-spreading coronavirus variant. Non-essential retail, hairdressers and gyms are closed and people are asked to stay at home. Christmas bubbles are cancelled. In lower tiers, five days of household mixing is reduced to just Christmas Day. Scotland and Wales announce similar restrictions.
Follow our channel and never miss an update
Under mounting political pressure as infection rates soar, the government imposes a third national lockdown in England. Boris Johnson warns the weeks ahead “will be the hardest yet” as he announces measures, which include a stay-at-home order and the closure of schools to most pupils. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland already have this level of restrictions across their nations.
It is announced that the UK is the first European country to record more than 100,000 coronavirus deaths (later, as data on recorded deaths are added up, we learn this number had been reached a few days earlier). In a sombre press conference in Downing Street, Boris Johnson says it is “hard to compute the sorrow”, but insists his government “truly did everything we could” to save lives.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
England begins a phased exit from lockdown. The four-step plan is intended to “cautiously but irreversibly” ease lockdown restrictions. Under the first phase, primary and secondary schools reopen in England and outdoor gatherings of six people or two households are allowed.
Non-essential retailers, hairdressers and public buildings such as libraries and museums reopen. Outdoor venues, including pubs, restaurants, zoos and theme parks also open, as well as indoor leisure centres such as gyms. Social contact rules continue to apply, including no indoor mixing between different households.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
A limit of 30 people is allowed to mix outdoors. The “rule of six” or two households are allowed for indoor social gatherings. Indoor venues also reopen, including pubs, restaurants and cinemas. Up to 10,000 spectators are allowed to attend the very largest outdoor-seated venues.
Matt Hancock resigns as health secretary, admitting breaking coronavirus rules after a leaked CCTV showed him kissing his aide and former lobbyist Gina Coladangelo in his departmental office.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
While phase four was supposed to come into effect on 14 June, instead it is rolled out four weeks later as the government accelerated the vaccination programme. Restrictions on weddings and funerals were abolished on 14 June, then on 19 July – or “Freedom Day” – most legal limits on social contact are removed in England and the final closed sectors of the economy, such as nightclubs, reopen.
Boris Johnson says the UK will move to Plan B measures in England following the spread of the Omicron variant. Face masks become compulsory in most public indoor venues and the NHS COVID Pass becomes mandatory in specific settings, such as nightclubs.
Boris Johnson announces he is lifting the last domestic COVID restrictions in the UK.
