13 hours agoShareSaveJim ReedHealth reporterShareSaveBBCIt was the most momentous event in UK history since World War Two. As a new virus took hold, millions of us were told to stay at home and billions of pounds were spent propping up the country’s economy.The Covid inquiry will publish its second set of findings on Thursday, looking in detail at the huge political choices made at the time – including how lockdowns were introduced, the closure of businesses and schools, and bringing in previously unthinkable social restrictions. “Did the government serve the people well, or did it fail them?” asked the lead counsel at the start of this part of the inquiry in 2023. Since then more than 7,000 documents have been made public from the time, including WhatsApp chats and emails, private diaries and confidential files.Here, BBC News has picked out some of the urgent messages and scribbled notes that shine a light on how critical decisions were taken in 2020.The early warningsOn 2 January 2020 an update appears on ProMed, a service used by health workers to warn of emerging diseases.”World Health Organization in touch with Beijing after mystery viral pneumonia outbreak,” it says.”Twenty-seven people – most of them stallholders at the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market – treated in hospital.”The next day England’s deputy chief medical officer, Jonathan Van Tam, sends the bulletin on to Peter Horby, a professor at Oxford University and chair of Nervtag, a group that advises the government on new viral threats.A week later, on 5 November 2020, England does enter its second national lockdown, this time lasting four weeks, although most schools remain open.By this point many decisions are being taken independently by the four nations of the UK. Both Wales and Northern Ireland put in place versions of a circuit breaker lockdown, while in Scotland stricter rules are imposed in the central belt.The plan is still to allow families and friends to meet up at Christmas. But by mid-December a new, more infectious variant of the virus is spreading and millions living in the south-east of England are told at short notice that Christmas mixing will be cancelled.In January 2021, a third and final full national lockdown follows across the UK, as the winter wave peaks and the NHS starts rolling out millions of doses of the first Covid vaccines.Lessons learnt Five years on from those dramatic 12 months, the inquiry’s findings are long-awaited, particularly by the 235,000 families who lost loved ones in the pandemic.The messages and documents highlighted here are just a snapshot – the report due later will run to around 800 pages.It will examine some of the key questions in much more detail: the timing of lockdowns, the impact of restrictions on the most vulnerable, and public confidence in the rules amid reports of partying in Downing Street and other alleged rule breaches.Groups representing thousands of bereaved families want individuals working in government at the time to be held to account for any pandemic failings. But – above all – they want the state to learn lessons from any mistakes and be better prepared if and when the next unknown virus arrives on our shores.Some documents in this article have been recreated. All contain the original texts including spelling mistakes and typographical errors.Additional reporting: Pilar Tomas and Ely Justiniani, BBC Visual Journalism Unit.Top image credit: Getty/BBC …
