I decided to write a chronological summary UK’s events in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, so it helps us to reflect on the speed of the virus transmission, the severity of the hospitals in relation to the number of infected people added to the other patients and how we have prevented and obeyed the rules imposed by the specialists of the moment.
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29/01 – first 2 cases of coronavirus in the UK.
30/01 – WHO declares a global health emergency amid thousands of new cases in China.
31/01 – 213 people died and 9,800 infected worldwide.
Early February – Prime minister, Boris Johnson, thought at first it was possible to face the pandemic and save the British economy.
26/02 – “An additional strategy would be to apply more intense measures to age and risk groups that are more likely to develop a serious disease (isolation at home for those over 65 years old and extra protection in homes for the elderly). The majority of the population would develop immunity and it would be possible to prevent a second wave of contagions, while reducing the pressure on the National Health Service (NHS), ”said a February 26 report. 05/03 – 116 cases across the UK, first fatal victim, a 70-year-old man, in Reading.
11/03 – WHO declares pandemic.
12/03 – Boris announced he had decided to move from the containment phase to the virus delay phase.
16/03 – Prime Minister asked the population to take preventive measures such as avoiding crowds and public places such as bars, pubs, theaters, restaurants, etc.
17/03 – From this date, several London attractions announced the closure until further notice. Museums and closed galleries; Premier League and other football championships, as well as other sports such as the London Marathon, have been suspended / postponed; Harry Potter studios canceled all visits, initially until April 3, and today, obviously, services are still suspended.
18/03 – 2626 cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) in the United Kingdom, 103 deaths. 30% of cases (about 600) were concentrated in London.
19/03 – They followed the same measures, based on the phase of “pandemic mitigation” and “herd immunization”, which consisted of containing only risk groups in isolation and the others would develop collective immunity since the infection would occur in a large part of the population. It’s important to note on their own many people started to work in home office mode (population reduction had already reduced by around 60% in centers, but it seemed that just this measure wasn’t necessary yet.).
20/03 – Imperial College London report, signed by Professors Nial Ferguson and Azra Ghani, was also sent to the British Government. The report estimated United Kingdom would reach a possible number of 260 thousand deaths, due to the collapse of the NHS that did not would be able to treat so many patients if it continues just with the first measures adopted – isolation of seven days for those with symptoms, 14 days for family nuclei and recommendation of social isolation. These data, added to the tragic evolution observed in countries as Italy and Spain, changed the face and tone of Johnson’s speeches. According to the world’s leading finance newspaper, the Financial Times:
“suppression is “the only viable strategy” at the moment.”
, concluded FT darkly. On this day, government assumed to pay 80% of the salaries of those who were not working due to the pandemic.
23/03: schools stopped activities. In the evening, after acknowledging on Saturday that the National Health Service (NHS) was at serious risk of “collapse” after discussions about the study by Imperial College, Prime Minister makes a statement, abandoning the “mitigation” system and declaring “lockdown“: everyone who works with services NOT connected to basic needs (markets, pharmacies, hospitals, press, cleaning (refuse collector and cleaners in those places), etc.) should stay at home, leaving one day to do physical exercises (until today, April 7, some people have “abused” and exceeded limits, still generating some agglomerations in parks, for example, that remain open).
26/03: Prime Minister is diagnosed with COVID-19.
30/03: 19,522 cases, including 1228 deaths, in the United Kingdom, newspapers indicate a 6-month confrontation for the United Kingdom to start “returning to normal”, and the lockdown should continue at least until the end of June, according to data from this day.
01/04: Newspapers report a 13-year-old teenager’s death, attested by Covid-19, apparently no illness (which is difficult to verify faithfully after death, but it’s worth the warning).
04/04: United Kingdom breaks record to date for deaths by Covid-19, with 708 deaths, including a 5-year-old child.
05/04: With a speech of thanks to the health professionals and others who are at the head of the pandemic, as well as those who remain at home in respect of the evidence of the virus, Queen Elizabeth made her 5th speech in 68 years of reign (in addition to traditional Christmas messages).
06/04: Boris Johnson is admitted to the ICU due to the persistence of symptoms after more than 10 days of contracting the virus.
07/04: 1,348,628 infected by Covid-19 and 74,816 deaths worldwide, 51,608 cases in the United Kingdom with 5,373 deaths and 135 recovered, the United Kingdom continues with the same measures, intensifying policing in the streets to dispel possible agglomerations, mainly in parks. In addition to using television and print media, the government has sent correspondence to residents, with a letter from the prime minister (written before he was admitted, but already with Covid-19), to stay at home, in addition to other information.
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Anyway… Unfortunately, the situation is still serious, not only here, but worldwide, but we cannot lose hope that everything will pass and, for this moment, it’s necessary to take measures and care, otherwise the results tend to be even worse.
Yes… We’ll all experience difficulties in terms of the economy (clearly, some on a larger scale and others on a smaller scale), but we need to establish what’s a priority at the moment: lives matter!
Stay safe! Stay calm and cautious!
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(Sorry for the English language’s mistakes. I’m still in the learning process’ to improve. Thank you for understanding! 🙂 )
Below some links I used as a basis for this summary:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-51839944
https://www.ft.com/content/7e56cf84-6a9e-11ea-a3c9-1fe6fedcca75
https://www.imperial.ac.uk/people/neil.ferguson
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/03/23/boris-johnson-coronavirus-speech-update-lockdown-uk/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-52088525
https://twitter.com/RoyalFamily/status/1246875266334539777
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/mar/20/government-pay-wages-jobs-coronavirus-rishi-sunak
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