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The coronavirus has spread across the UK with disconcerting speed, changing our lives and presenting those in power with a seemingly insurmountable challenge.
The UK surpassed 100,000 deaths this week, becoming the fifth country to reach this milestone after the US, Brazil, India and Mexico.
A year after the first British case was reported, we remember what happened in the weeks after.
The first positive tests from the UK
The first two UK patients for COVID-19 they were two Chinese citizens of the same family staying in a hotel in York.
One was a student at York University, the other was his mother who was visiting him in the UK.
The family was from Hubei province, where Wuhan, the city where outbreak started, it is found.
On January 29, 2020, the son called NHS 111 to report that they both had a fever and a cough. Later that night, two paramedics dressed in hazmat suits arrived and an ambulance took them to the hospital in Hull, where they were examined.
On January 31, they were taken to the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle, where it was confirmed that they had tested positive for coronavirus.
British Airways then suspended all flights to and from mainland China with immediate effect.
Wuhan repatriation
A plane carrying 83 Britons from Wuhan arrived at RAF Brize Norton on January 31, and the plane’s passengers began a 14-day quarantine at a specialized hospital in Merseyside.
On that day, the World Health Organization declared a global public health emergency.
Peter Attwood’s death was not formally confirmed for having involved COVID-19 until the end of August.
First UK victims
January 30 Peter attwood, an 84-year-old man from Kent, passed away, and his death was initially attributed to heart failure and pneumonia.
It wasn’t until the end of August that tests confirmed that he died of COVID-19, making him the first known victim.
The first COVID-related deaths in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland were recorded in March.
Steve Walsh has been named a coronavirus super-spreader in the UK. Image: Servomex
The “superpreader”
Steve Walsh, a Hove businessman, tested positive on February 6, having contracted the disease at a conference in Singapore before going on a skiing holiday in the French Alps.
The 53-year-old was dubbed a “super-spreader” and was linked to 11 other cases, five in the UK.
The Diamond Princess anchored in a port in Japan
The first months
Cases continued to rise steadily through February and March, with the first case in London soon to become the center of the UK outbreak, recorded on February 11.
Four other cases were confirmed on the Diamond Princess cruise ship and transferred to hospitals in the UK.
The ministers told anyone returning home from Hubei, Iran and parts of South Korea to isolate themselves, even if they did not show symptoms.
A coronavirus outbreak was confirmed at a Nike conference in Edinburgh at the end of the month, and at least 25 people linked to the event are believed to have contracted the disease.
The first British death of the disease, a man quarantined on the Diamond Princess, was confirmed by the Japanese Ministry of Health.
A family show in Brecon, Wales, during the first closing
The first confinement
With the virus on the rise, Britons were told they can only leave home for limited reasons, such as shopping for food, exercising once a day, medical needs, and traveling for work when absolutely necessary.
All stores selling non-essential products were ordered to close, gatherings of more than two people in public were banned, and events, including weddings, were canceled.
The UK is currently in its third lockdown.
