My first report on what has become known as the “Covid-19 Pandemic” was in February 2020 with my article – “A funny start to the year”.
The COVID-19 pandemic in the UK is part of the worldwide pandemic of the coronavirus disease 2019, which causes severe acute respiratory problems.
On 12 January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that a new coronavirus was the cause of a respiratory illness in a cluster of people in Wuhan City, Hubei, China, which was reported to the WHO on 31 December 2019.
Scientists analysed data to estimate the source of the virus in the UK up to the beginning of March 2020, and following the initial importations which were likely from China or elsewhere in Asia
The virus began circulating in the country earlier this year (2020), arriving mainly with visitors from China or elsewhere in Asia.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the first national lock-down on 23 March 2020 and Parliament introduced the Coronavirus Act 2020, which granted the devolved governments emergency powers and empowered the police to enforce public health measures.
The first wave was, at the time, one of the world’s largest outbreaks.
However, by mid-April the peak had been passed and restrictions were gradually eased.
A second wave, with a new variant that originated in Kent becoming dominant, began in September and has not yet peaked, and has been found to be deadlier than the first wave.
Once restrictions were lifted, the new variant rapidly spread across the UK.
Its increased transmissibility contributed to a continued increase in daily infections that surpassed previous records.
The full national lock-down was lifted in May, replaced with very specific regional restrictions.
Further nationwide restrictions were introduced later in 2020 in response to a surge in cases. Many of which are still in place.
Economic support was given to many struggling businesses, including a furlough scheme for employees.
As well as the major strain on the UK’s healthcare service, the pandemic has had a severe impact on the UK’s economy, caused major disruptions to education and has had a far-reaching effect on society and politics.
By September, the number of COVID-19 cases were again rising.
This led to the introduction of social distancing measures and some more localised restrictions.
In both England and Scotland, tiered restrictions were introduced in October, and England went into a month-long lockdown during November followed by new tiered restrictions in December.
Multi-week ‘circuit-breaker’ lock-downs were imposed in Wales and Northern Ireland.
By late December the NHS had come under severe strain
Following a partial easing of restrictions for Christmas, all of the UK went into a third lock-down.
The first COVID-19 vaccine was approved and began being deployed across the UK in early December; with a staggered roll-out prioritising the most vulnerable and will then be moving to progressively younger age groups.
The UK government had previously developed a “pandemic response plan” and rolled it out in response to the first confirmed COVID-19 cases in January 2020.
The UK introduced advice for travelers coming from affected countries in late January and February 2020, and began contact tracing, although this was later abandoned, at a huge cost.
The government introduced further social restrictions on the public as the virus spread across the country in the following weeks, initially resisting more stringent measures introduced elsewhere in Europe and Asia.
The pandemic was widely disruptive to the economy of the United Kingdom, with most sectors and workforce’s adversely affected.
Some temporary shutdowns became permanent; some people who were furloughed were later made redundant.
The economic disruption has had a significant impact on people’s mental health—with particular damage to the well being of workers whose hours have been reduced/eliminated.
The pandemic has had far-reaching consequences in the country that go beyond the spread of the disease itself and efforts to quarantine it, including political, cultural, and social implications.
It looks like it still has a long way to run.