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Timeline of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom (2024)

The following is a timeline of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom in 2024.

There are significant differences in the legislation and the reporting between the countries of the UK: England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales. The numbers of cases and deaths are reported on a government Web site updated daily during the pandemic. The UK-wide COVID Symptom Study based on surveys of four million participants, endorsed by authorities in Scotland and Wales, run by health science company ZOE, and analysed by King's College London researchers, publishes daily estimates of the number of new and total current COVID-19 infections (excluding care homes) in UK regions, without restriction to only laboratory-confirmed cases.

Events

January 2024

1 January – Writing on X, Doug Barrowman, husband of Baroness Michelle Mone, claims it "suits the agenda" of ministers to "scapegoat" him and his wife as a means of distracting from government "incompetence" at failing to procure personal protective equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic.
5 January – The death is announced of lobbyist and political adviser Derek Draper, who became seriously ill with an exceptionally severe case of Long COVID after contracting COVID-19 in 2020.
10 January – Baroness Heather Hallett, chair of the UK COVID-19 Inquiry, confirms the inquiry will postpone the start of hearing evidence about the development of a vaccine as more time is needed to prepare for a separate investigation into the impact of COVID-19 on the NHS. Consequently, the vaccine evidence, which was due to begin being heard in Summer 2024 may not begin until after the next general election.
11 January – A University of Birmingham study estimates that GP appointments and other primary care consultations generated by long COVID cost the NHS an extra £23m per year.
12 January –
- A report published by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office reveals that the UK government spent £27,000 replenishing its wine cellar between 2020 and 2022, while use of the cellar, situated in Lancaster House, fell by 96% during 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Surgeons at a plastic surgery unit at Queen Victoria Hospital in East Grinstead, Surrey, have reported a doubling of the number of patients being treated for dog bites since the pandemic, with dog ownership increasing during that time.
16 January –
- Research published in The Lancet suggests that 7,000 hospitalisations from COVID-19 could have been avoided during the summer of 2022 if the population had received the full amount of available vaccinations. The same study shows that 44% of the population were under vaccinated at the time, with the highest rate being among younger people.
- Scotland's Finance Secretary, Shona Robison, confirms that the Scottish Government is to cut at least 1,200 funded university places as they cannot afford to continue paying for additional places created during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Helen Goss, the mother of an eleven-year-old girl from Aberdeenshire with long COVID, launches legal action against NHS Grampian for what she says are the health board's "multiple failings" in the care and treatment of her daughter.
19 January – The Scottish COVID-19 Inquiry hears that all of former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon's WhatsApp messages relating to the pandemic appear to have been deleted.
20 January – In a post on X (formerly known as Twitter) Nicola Sturgeon says that all messages between her and colleagues communicated "through informal means" were handed to the Scottish COVID-19 Inquiry in 2023.
22 January – The UK's COVID-19 Inquiry hears that Professor Gregor Smith, Scotland's Chief Medical Officer, advised colleagues to delete their WhatsApp messages "every day" during the pandemic.
23 January – The UK COVID-19 Inquiry hears WhatsApp messages between Professor Jason Leitch, Scotland's National Clinical Director, and Humza Yousaf, who was then Scotland's Health Secretary, discussing exemptions from wearing face coverings at a dinner. Leitch advised Yousaf to have a drink in his hand at all times as a way of remaining exempt, and suggested "literally no-one" followed official guidance on wearing masks when not seated for dinner.
24 January –
- Professor Mark Woolhouse, a member of the Scottish Government COVID-19 Advisory Group, tells the COVID-19 Inquiry that senior members of the Scottish Government "froze" at the beginning of the pandemic, ignoring the advice of experts, and also claims hundreds of people may have died after being told not to "bother" the NHS.
- A study of children aged 10 and 11 who became overweight or obese during the COVID-19 pandemic warns they could face "lifelong health consequences".
25 January –
- The UK COVID-19 Inquiry hears heated text messages exchanged between Nicola Sturgeon and an aide in which she referred to former Prime Minister Boris Johnson as a "clown" following the announcement of a second lockdown for England in October 2020, and that she was offended by his "utter competence".
- Responding to evidence given to the COVID-19 Inquiry, Mark Drakeford, the First Minister of Wales, says he did not delete messages during the pandemic, but used "electronic means of communicating... very little".
26 January – The UK COVID-19 Inquiry publishes derogatory WhatsApp messages exchanged between present First Minister of Scotland Humza Yousaf and Scotland's National Clinical Director, Professor Jason Leitch during the pandemic, in which they mocked opposition politicians and used expletive language.
29 January – Michael Gove gives evidence to the UK COVID-19 Inquiry, and tells the hearing he rejects accusations that the UK government was "playing politics" during the pandemic.
30 January –
- John Swinney, the former Deputy First Minister of Scotland, tells the UK COVID-19 Inquiry that he manually deleted messages sent to Nicola Sturgeon during the pandemic.
- Mark Drakeford, the First Minister of Wales, says the Welsh Government is willing to talk to the Welsh Rugby Union about the terms of repaying an £18m loan given to it during the pandemic after the WRU asked for "breathing space".
31 January – Nicola Sturgeon tells the UK COVID-19 Inquiry that she deleted her WhatsApp messages during the pandemic, but that all "relevant" information has been passed to the Inquiry. She also rejects allegations she presided over a culture of secrecy and used the pandemic to further the cause for Scottish independence.

February 2024

1 February –
- COVID-19 vaccination in the United Kingdom: The first private service for COVID-19 vaccination begins rolling out to pharmacies around the UK, allowing those who are under 65 to receive the latest booster.
- Alister Jack, the Secretary of State for Scotland, tells the UK COVID-19 Inquiry he deleted WhatsApp messages from his phone in November 2021 to free up space, but would have not done so if he could "turn back the clock".
2 February – The UK COVID-19 Inquiry hears written evidence that Nicola Sturgeon upgraded her phone to a new device in December 2020, then passed her old phone, which had been used to send messages to colleagues, to a relative.
4 February – The Scottish Information Commissioner, which oversees Scotland's freedom of information laws, launches a probe into the Scottish Government's use of informal messaging such as WhatsApp after "significant practice concerns" were raised by the UK COVID-19 Inquiry.
10 February – Police Scotland are investigating 22 deaths that occurred at the Fullarton Care Home in Irvine, North Ayrshire during the COVID-19 pandemic. The home was one of the worst affected during the early days of the pandemic.
25 February – Speaking ahead of the UK COVID-19 Inquiry's three week session in Wales, Laura McClelland, a senior intensive care doctor, describes the practice of discharging untested patients to care homes during the pandemic as "a form of genocide".
27 February – The UK COVID-19 Inquiry begins sitting in Wales, and hears that Health Minister Vaughan Gething deleted WhatsApp messages during the pandemic.
28 February – Sally Holland, the former Children's Commissioner for Wales, gives evidence to the COVID-19 Inquiry, and tells the hearing that children's needs were not taken into account during the pandemic, with parks and play areas reopening after pubs, and the closure of schools reminding people that schools are much more than providers of academic learning.
29 February – The third day of Welsh hearings for the COVID-19 Inquiry is told that a claim made by First Minister Mark Drakeford that there was "no value" in COVID testing all care home residents was queried by Robert Hoyle, the Welsh Government's Head of Science. The Inquiry also hears that 75% of patients discharged from hospitals into care homes in Wales were not tested for the virus.

March 2024

1 March – Dr Roland Salmon, the former communicable disease director of Public Health Wales tells the UK COVID-19 Inquiry there was no basis for banning pubs from selling alcohol during the pandemic, and that doing so seemed to be "an overly enduring legacy of the chapel heritage".
3 March – The UK's Day of Reflection, first held on 23 March 2021 to coincide with the first anniversary of the first lockdown, moves to its new date of the first Sunday in March, as recommended by the UK Commission on Covid Commemoration.
4 March – The COVID-19 Inquiry hears that First Minister of Wales Mark Drakeford described local lockdowns in the autumn of 2020 as a "failed experiment". Rob Orford, the Chief Scientific Adviser to the Welsh Government, also tells the Inquiry that in hindsight "perhaps they weren't the best idea" as they made the situation more "complicated".
5 March – Andrew Goodall, who was chief executive of NHS Wales during the pandemic, tells the COVID-19 Inquiry that COVID-19 was not a priority for the Welsh Government during January and February 2020, but that this began to change at the end of February and into March.
6 March – As part of the 2024 budget, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt confirms the COVID-19-era government loan scheme for small businesses will be extended until 2026.
7 March – Simon Hart, a former Secretary of State for Wales, tells the COVID-19 Inquiry that WhatsApp messages between members of the Welsh Government indicate minister had no idea of their own COVID-19 policy.
12 March – Eluned Morgan, who was Wales's health minister during the latter part of the pandemic, tells the COVID-19 Inquiry that people in Wales felt like they were being treated like "second-class citizens" by the UK government, citing the Treasury's decision not to fund furlough payments during Wales's "firebreak lockdown" in Autumn 2020 when furlough payments were provided for a later lockdown in England.
13 March – Mark Drakeford, the First Minister of Wales, tells the UK COVID-19 Inquiry that UK government ministers were "afraid of Nicola Sturgeon" during the pandemic, and that her "underlying ambition" for Scottish independence meant she was treated differently to other politicians. He also likens prime minister Boris Johnson to an absent football manager during the pandemic, and accuses him of making comments "designed to minimise the seriousness" of COVID-19 at the very start of the pandemic.
19 March – Scottish Prison Service director Allister Purdie gives evidence to the Scottish COVID-19 Inquiry, and apologises to the family of Callum Inglis, who died at Addiewell Prison during the pandemic, after his family learned of the death through word of mouth before they were told formally by prison authorities.
20 March – The Scottish COVID-19 Inquiry hears that female nursing staff were regularly supplied with male masks during the pandemic.
23 March –
- On the fourth anniversary of the first national lockdown, kites with the faces of people who died during the pandemic are flown at a memorial service in Bristol.
- A report compiled by the Resolution Foundation indicates a rise in the number of people leaving work due to long-term health conditions, with the number of people inactive due to long-term health conditions rising from 2.1 million in 2019 to 2.8 million in October 2023, and making it the longest sustained rise since 1994–1998, when records began. The UK is also the only country in the G7 not to return to pre-pandemic employment levels.
27 March – A report clears Conservative MP Bernard Jenkin of breaching COVID-19 laws over his attendance at a "wine and nibbles" event on the Parliamentary estate in December 2020, which the report describes as socially-distanced with "business and social elements".
28 March – School absence figures for the year ending July 2023 indicate 28.9% of primary school children were persistently absent, meaning they missed at least 10% of lessons, compared to 12.9% for the 2018–19 academic year.

April 2024

1 April – Testing for COVID-19 is scaled back further in England. People in the highest risk groups can still access free lateral flow tests, and there is still testing of symptomatic staff in certain hospital and hospice roles. All other free provision of lateral flow tests ends.
8 April – A study led by Imperial College London suggests that people with long Covid have evidence of continuing inflammation in their blood, which could help understanding of the condition and how it may be treated.
15 April – The spring COVID-19 booster vaccine programme begins in England for those aged over 75 or with a weak immune system.

References

External links

Freedman, Lawrence (11 May 2020). "Strategy for a Pandemic: The UK and COVID-19". International Institute for Strategic Studies. – analysis of advice given to government, and their response, up to early May