The UK is currently under lockdown for one month as it fights to stop the spread of coronavirus.
These are the key dates to track the increasing impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
November 2019 – The province of Hubei, China has identified the first case of coronavirus in Wuhan.
The disease could have been caused by a “wet market,” where wild animals are sold for their meat.
January 21 – The UK news begins to include Coronavirus as the rise in infections in China.
January 25, 2005 – British authorities start to worry about the threat. Health officials join forces with Border Force agents in tracking down 2,000 people who recently flew to the UK from Hubei province.
January 29, 2009 – Britons who return from Wuhan will be told that they will be placed in quarantine for 14 day.
An aircraft that brought British citizens to the UK after being struck by the coronavirus in Yokohama (Japan) arrives by coach at Arrowe Park Hospital, Merseyside (Danny Lawson/PA).
January 30, 2010 – The World Health Organisation (WHO) declares the outbreak an international public health emergency.
January 31 – Two people from the same family are tested positive for coronavirus England. They are treated at Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
More than 80 Britons are evacuated by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office from Wuhan and placed in quarantine at Arrowe Park Hospital, on the Wirral.
February 2, 2012 – The UK Government funds a nationwide ad campaign asking people to wash their hands thoroughly with tissues to stop spreading the disease.
11 more Britons from China are now in the UK, and they are being sent to Arrowe Park.
February 3, 2018 – The Government announces PS20 Million funding for vaccine research.
(PA Graphics)
February 4, 2009 – The Diamond Princess cruise vessel is quarantined off Japan’s coast with 3,700 passengers, including more than 100 British citizens, due to a coronavirus epidemic.
The Foreign Office advises Britons living in mainland China to leave if possible.
February 5, 2008 – Hospitals are instructed to create emergency assessment pods for coronavirus.
February 6, 2018 – A third person in Britain tests positive for the virus following a trip to Singapore. He is being treated at Guy’s and St Thomas’s Hospital, London.
February 8, 2008 – Five Britons are positive for coronavirus infection in France after being exposed to the third case at a ski resort.
February 9, 2009 – The last UK Government chartered flight to bring 150 British nationals home from Wuhan lands. The passengers are then quarantined at a Milton Keynes facility.
February 10, 2010 – The Government declares coronavirus a serious and imminent threat to public safety and gives it the authority to quarantine people.
An RAF Atlas carrying a cargo of PPE was unloaded at Brize Norton. The UK is still in lockdown to stop the spread of the coronavirus. (Steve Parsons/PA).
Eight cases have been reported in the UK.
February 11, 2019 – Coronavirus officially named Covid-19.
February 22 – A repatriation plane carrying 32 British and European evacuees lands from the Diamond Princess. To be quarantined, passengers are taken to Arrowe Park Hospital.
February 27, 2012 – Northern Ireland’s first recorded case.
February 28 – The first reported case in Wales.
The first UK citizen to die of Covid-19 is a British man who was previously quarantined on Diamond Princess.
February 29 – The Republic of Ireland confirms the first case of coronavirus.
March 2, 2012 – Scotland confirms its initial case.
March 3, 2013 – The Government announces a national plan for coronavirus management, which includes contingency plans to assist police in the event of a “significant” outbreak.
It predicts that up to a fifth of employees could be absent from work during a “stretching situation”.