Britons evacuated from Wuhan arrive at quarantine facility – 31 January
Eighty-three British passengers are flown from Wuhan to RAF Brize Norton and transported to Arrowe Park hospital in Wirral, where they are monitored around the clock for 14 days. One of them later contributes a diary to the Guardian, in which they lament “basically losing one my friends from Wuhan to his Fifa addiction” and enjoying “a banging bacon and sausage sandwich” for breakfast each morning. For now, life carries on as normal for everyone else in the UK.
People in Britain start dying – 28 February
A passenger on the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan becomes the first Briton to die of Covid-19. Suddenly, the virus seems a little closer to home. Six days later the UK records its first death on home soil, when a woman in her 70s dies in hospital in Berkshire, prompting the prime minister’s official spokesman to say it is “highly likely the virus is going to spread in a significant way”.
Toilet paper wars begin – 8 March
UK supermarkets start rationing toilet paper after Public Health England urges members of the public to “plan ahead” in case they have to self-isolate for a couple of weeks. People translate this into: must stockpile loo roll. And pasta. And tinned tomatoes. It starts to become difficult to book an online grocery delivery slot. The Guardian finds one UK-based seller who had earned £1,000 from selling large packs of Andrex toilet roll at £50 each – more than double the retail price.
Nadine Dorries tests positive – 10 March
Nadine Dorries, a junior health minister, becomes the first MP to test positive, prompting speculation that the disease might have spread across the Houses of Parliament. After Dorries recovers, she tweets to say: “Having lived through coronavirus, can I assure everyone that at no time during the seven days we were in isolation at home did we even once have to face a secondary crisis and run out of loo roll.”
Boris Johnson changes gear – 16 March
After several weeks in which the government appeared to have played down the severity of the virus, Boris Johnson suddenly changes gear. In a live televised address he tells the nation to avoid all non-essential social contact, stop “unnecessary” visits to care homes and to work from home. A study from Imperial College’s MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis has prompted the about-turn, after it warned the government that its “mitigation strategy” would lead to 260,000 deaths. That would be not just deaths from the virus, but from other illnesses that the NHS would be too hard-pressed to treat. Two days later the UK closes all schools except to the children of key workers.
Full lockdown begins – 23 March
Johnson announces wide-ranging restrictions on freedom of movement, enforceable in law. He orders a ban on gatherings of more than two people and tells the British public: “You must stay at home.” With a sombre expression, he decrees that people will only be allowed outside to buy food or medication, exercise once a day, or to travel to work if absolutely necessary. Lockdown begins.
Volunteer army of 750,000 recruited in 24 hours – 24 March
The NHS puts out a call for a “volunteer army” to help up to 1.5 million people who have been asked to shield themselves from coronavirus because of underlying health conditions. Within 24 hours, 750,000 people have put their names forward, offering to do simple but vital tasks such as delivering medicines from pharmacies; driving patients to appointments; and making regular phone calls to check on people isolating at home.
Millions around the UK clap for the NHS – 26 March
At 8pm, millions of people around the UK stand at their front doors and open windows, in gardens and on balconies, to sound a round of national applause for those working on the frontline of the fight against coronavirus. Children bang on pots and pans, dogs bark, and handbells ring out. Boats sound their horns across Bristol harbour, while in Oban the high school pipe band add their skirl to the chorus of thanks.
Boy, 13, dies alone in London hospital – 30 March
Ismail Mohamed Abdulwahab, 13, from Brixton, south London, becomes the first child to die from coronavirus in the UK. His life ends alone in King’s College hospital, three days after he tested positive for Covid-19. His family say they do not think he had any underlying health issues. They are unable to attend his funeral after two of his six siblings begin displaying symptoms of the virus.
Johnson goes into intensive care – 6 April
Downing Street announces that the prime minister has been taken into intensive care at St Thomas’ hospital in London, 10 days after he first self isolated following a positive test for oronavirus. The country holds its breath awaiting updates from the prime minister’s hospital bed.
