Covid-19: A year in pictures

The images that capture this strange and tragic year

Tuesday marks one year since the UK was asked to ‘stay at home’ (PA)

Exactly one year after the UK’s first lockdown was announced, and the country feels, in many ways, to have been changed forever.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson first introduced a three-week-long lockdown in an attempt to curb the spread of the virus with his “stay at home” message.

This was quickly extended and the UK remained under some form of restrictions until July, with two further lockdowns following later in the year and into 2021.

Boris Johnson said in a statement on Tuesday: “Today, the anniversary of the first lockdown, is an opportunity to reflect on the past year – one of the most difficult in our country’s history.”

The UK prime minister explained how the past year had taken a huge toll on the whole country and praised the “great spirit” shown by the UK over the course of the pandemic.

Read more:

• Follow Covid news live: Latest lockdown updates 
• Boris Johnson says Europe’s third wave likely to ‘wash up on UK shores’
• EU ‘set to block AstraZeneca exports to UK’
• Lockdown roadmap dates: Which rules change on 29 March?

A minute’s silence was held at noon, and people are also being encouraged to stand at their doorsteps with phones, torches and candles at 8pm to signify a “beacon of remembrance.”

In this extraordinary year, we take a look at the photos that have captured these strange and tragic times.

A woman takes a picture of a goat in Llandudno on 31 March 2020, where the animals had been left to freely roam as lockdown kept people at home. Their number has since swollen as population limiting efforts were disrupted by the pandemic. (Reuters)

London’s Square Mile in April 2020. The heart of the nation’s capital lay silent as those who could across the UK left their offices to instead work from home. (Getty)

NHS nurses, surgeons, doctors and support staff help to unveil a rainbow balloon display outside the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in Holborn, London to thank the public for their support during the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic (PA)

Burial chambers are prepared for future use at Sutton New Hall Cemetery during the coronavirus pandemic on 7 May 2020 in Birmingham (Getty)

A member of the clinical staff adjusts her glasses as she dons personal protective equipment (PPE) including a mask and gown at the Intensive Care unit at Royal Papworth Hospital in Cambridge, on 5 May, 2020 (AFP/Getty)

A passenger wears a face mask on a platform at Canning Town underground station in London, after the announcement of plans to bring the country out of lockdown in May 2020. (PA)

The reverend Lucy Winkett, rector of St James's Piccadilly, London, delivers a service on Rogation Sunday via webcam to the church's congregation while the pews remain empty on 17 May 2020 (Getty)

Nurse Kirsty Hartley carries premature baby Theo to his mother Kirsty Anderson in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the Lancashire Women and Newborn Centre at Burnley General Hospital in East Lancashire as the pandemic continued. (PA)

A protester is overcome with emotion as he gathers with thousands of others for a 'Black Lives Matter' solidarity demonstration outside St George's Hall on 2 June, 2020 in Liverpool, United Kingdom. (Getty)

An aerial view of Queen Square where hearts have been sprayed onto the grass in an effort to encourage social distancing on 8 July, 2020 in Bristol, England. (Getty)

Worshippers observe social distancing at the Bradford Central Mosque on the first day of Eid, in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The Area was one of several in the north of the country where measures were suddenly introduced just a day ahead of the religious festival. (PA)

Isolating students peer out of their accommodation window as they are interviewed by a television crew on 28 September, 2020 in Manchester, England. (Getty)

Maureen Bramwell, the owner of the Grand Central venue in Liverpool, stands in a NOVID sanitisation booth during a demonstration in the city centre on 2 October 2020. (PA)

On 8 December 2020, Margaret Keenan, 90, is applauded by staff as she returns to her ward after becoming the first person in the United Kingdom to receive the Pfizer/BioNtech covid-19 vaccine at University Hospital, Coventry, at the start of the largest ever immunisation programme in the UK’s history. (PA)

A combination picture shows East Lancashire NHS Trust healthcare workers posing for a portrait ahead of International Women's Day at The Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital in north west England. (Reuters)