Covid-19 in the United Kingdom: Navigating a Global Pandemic

By Joan McGregor, August 2020 We are not all in the same boat. We are all in the same storm. — Damian Barr T he first two cases of Covid-19 in the United Kingdom were recorded on 31 January 2020, and up to 28 February, all cases in the UK were contracted abroad. By early March, cases had been reported in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland. By 19 July there were 294,066 confirmed cases with 45,318 deaths. The numbers are likely to be underestimated because they do not include all Covid-19 deaths in care homes and in the community because of testing and reporting processes. The four nations of the United Kingdom: England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, responded to Covid-19 in different ways, and in different timeframes. The responses in these four different entities highlighted the extent of devolution. This article focuses primarily on what happened in England. The international media coverage of Covid-19 brought the topic to the fore in England by early March. By the time lockdown was introduced, the public was more than ready for decisive action to address the spread of Covid-19, largely complying with restrictions. To begin with, it seemed the government followed the lead of the people rather than the government leading the people. The pandemic hit Britain at a time when the Prime Minister and his Cabinet were focusing on Getting Brexit Done , the key slogan of the campaign that brought them to power on 12 December 2019. The United Kingdom was bitterly divided by the process of Brexit; broken promises, prolonged negotiations and lack of clarity. Boris Johnson’s pleas for the UK to unite following Brexit fell on deaf ears. There had been a Cabinet reshuffle in mid-February; the newly elected government was still getting its house in order. The official opposition, the Labour Party, was in disarray, having fared badly in the election, and was in the throes of a hotly contested leadership race. The UK government’s supply and distribution of essenti