2020 in pictures: Coronavirus in the UK

image captionStonehenge, deserted on 26 March. After weeks of speculation, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a national lockdown on 23 March to tackle the spread of coronavirus. In a TV address, he said: “From this evening I must give the British people a very simple instruction – you must stay at home.”

image captionAn empty Brighton Palace Pier on 22 March.

image captionIn the days before lockdown, shoppers rushed to the supermarkets to stock up on essential items like food and toilet rolls, with queues seen here at 5.50am at Tesco Extra in New Malden, south-west London, on 20 March.

image captionSome animals took advantage of the quieter streets: goats took a stroll around the deserted streets of Llandudno, north Wales, on 31 March. Town councillor Carol Marubbi said: “They are curious… and I think they are wondering what’s going on, like everybody else.”

image captionA national weekly tradition of people clapping outside their homes began on 27 March. The gesture was a display of gratitude for the work of the NHS and care workers in treating people with coronavirus. The initiative was devised by Annemarie Plas, from London, who was inspired by the same event happening in her home country of the Netherlands.

image captionNHS staff from Dorset County Hospital in Dorchester participate in “Clap for Carers” on 2 April. Delivery drivers, supermarket staff, care workers and bin collectors were also among those thanked by people across the country.

image captionBuildings around the UK were also lit in blue – the colour of the NHS logo – to pay tribute to the work of NHS staff. This is The Kelpies – a metal sculpture of horses’ heads – in Falkirk.

image captionDue to the lockdown, unsold new and used cars were stored at the disused Upper Heyford aerodrome in Bicester, Oxfordshire. Cars were also stored on disused airport runways in Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire.

image captionWith more time spent at home, many people had mass clear-outs of possessions they no longer wanted. This led to some recycling points becoming overwhelmed, like this one at a Tesco Extra Store in Wembley, north London.

image captionEaster weekend was quiet, with the government urging people to stay at home. This is Bournemouth beach on Good Friday.

image captionDrive-in testing centres were built across the UK, like this one in north-west London, seen on 1 April.

image captionOn 3 April, Health Secretary Matt Hancock opened the NHS Nightingale Hospital at the ExCel centre in London, a temporary hospital with 4,000 beds set up for the treatment of Covid-19 patients.

image captionOn 5 April, the Queen gave a message of hope in a special address to the nation, seen here on a billboard screen in an empty Piccadilly Circus in central London. The Queen said: “While we have faced challenges before, this one is different … better days will return; we will be with our friends again; we will be with our families again; we will meet again.”

image captionA dog in fancy dress with its owner and a sign paying tribute to NHS staff during a national “clap for carers” in April.

image captionStreet art expressing appreciation of the NHS appeared in a number of towns and cities, including this mural by artist Rachel List in Pontefract, northern England.

image captionThroughout 2020, millions of people worked from home, including British Paralympic champion Hannah Cockroft and her partner Nathan Maguire, seen here training at their home in Chester.

image captionA member of the clinical staff at Royal Papworth Hospital in Cambridge wears personal protective equipment (PPE) as she cares for a patient at the Intensive Care unit.

image captionBeachgoers enjoyed the sunshine in Bournemouth on 25 June during a heatwave, ten days before lockdown restrictions were lifted in England.

image captionA customer shows off her jewelled David Bowie face covering at Tusk Hair stylists in Camden, London, just after midnight on 4 July, following lockdown easing in England.

image captionA man pours a drink over himself in Soho, London. Pubs, restaurants and cinemas in England reopened on 4 July after three months of lockdown restrictions.

image captionSharde Laing Cummings takes a reservation at Haks Oscar barber shop in Chelsea, London, after the reopening on 4 July. Businesses were required to adhere to strict safety measures and social distancing rules.

image captionThe Queen knighted 100-year-old veteran Captain Tom Moore at Windsor Castle on 17 July. Captain Sir Tom rose to prominence during lockdown, when he raised £39m for the NHS by walking laps of his garden.

image captionStudents at Bristnall Hall Academy, near Birmingham, celebrated their GCSE results on 20 August. Passes for pupils in England rose dramatically this year, following the last-minute decision to uphold grades awarded by teachers after exams were cancelled due to the pandemic.

image captionPupils from Marden Bridge Middle School in Whitley Bay, Tyne and Wear, greet each other on their first day of term as schools in England reopen on 2 September after the coronavirus lockdown.

image captionPrime Minister Boris Johnson is reflected in a woman’s eye as she watches his TV address to the nation on 22 September about a marked increase in coronavirus infections across the UK. Mr Johnson urged the public to “summon the discipline and the resolve” to follow new measures, which, he said, could last up to six months.

image captionAs England’s second lockdown began in November, military personnel worked in testing centres in Liverpool as part of a city-wide testing pilot.

image captionPolice officers block off Oxford Street in central London to control an anti-lockdown demonstration on 5 November. The Metropolitan Police said: “This gathering is unlawful and is putting others at risk.” At least 104 protesters were arrested.

image captionApproval was given to the Pfizer/BioNtech coronavirus vaccine in December, and 90-year-old Margaret Keenan became the first person to receive it, in the UK’s biggest ever immunisation programme.