Coronavirus lockdown timeline: How did we get here?

Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to announce new coronavirus measures on Monday

Britain is bracing for new coronavirus restrictions as Boris Johnson is expected to introduce a new three-tier lockdown system on Monday.

It comes nearly seven months after the first national lockdown was announced and just over three months after restrictions began to ease.

Here is when the restrictions began, and how the country has reached this point.

March

On 23 March, the prime minister told the nation that people “must” stay at home and ordered certain industries to shut down.

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In a televised speech, Mr Johnson said: “From this evening, I must give the British people a very simple instruction – you must stay at home. Because the critical thing we must do is stop the disease spreading between households.”

People were only allowed to leave their home to shop for essentials, exercise outdoors once a day, visit the doctor or provide care for a vulnerable person, and go to work if they could not work from home.

All non-essential shops, including clothing and electronic retail stores, libraries, gyms, and places of worship had to close and gatherings of more than two people in public were not allowed. A ban was also imposed on all social events.

April - June

The UK hit its peak in the pandemic in April, which saw around 1,000 people dying from Covid-19 every day and the prime minister was admitted into intensive care after contracting the virus himself.

Mr Johnson announced he tested positive for Covid-19 on 27 March, just days after imposing the national lockdown, and was admitted to hospital on 4 April, where he stayed to receive treatment for the disease and was discharged nine days later.

In May, Britain overtook Italy as the country with the highest official death toll from coronavirus in Europe, recording over 32,000 deaths at the time. But pressure on the government to relax lockdown restrictions was rising, and after seven weeks in full lockdown, some measures began to ease.

On 10 May, the prime minister announced a “first sketch” of a road map towards the lifting of lockdown measures. He also urged people who worked in industries like construction and manufacturing to return to work, but to avoid public transport wherever possible.

People were also allowed to undertake unlimited amounts of outdoor exercise, drive to other destinations, and play sports with members of their own household. Later in May, the new NHS Test and Trace service was launched – heralding the start of weeks of failures and underperformance by the “vital” contact-tracing service.

In the second half of June, even more lockdown measures were eased, with leisure facilities and tourist attractions allowed to reopen, and people allowed to see more of their friends and family.

The rule on social distancing was also eased. If a two metre distance was not possible, the guidance said people could keep a social distance of “one metre plus” to reduce the risk of transmission.

However, nightclubs, soft-play areas, indoor gyms, swimming pools, water parks, bowling alleys and spas had to remain closed.

July - August

From Saturday 4 July, pubs and restaurants were allowed to reopen their doors. This came at a time when the number of daily infections being reported dropped to fewer than 1,000 and the R rate – the average number of people each infected person passes the virus on to – remained below 1 across the UK.

However, we began to see local outbreaks around this time. Leicester became the first area to have a local lockdown imposed, on 17 July, which meant people could not meet others in private dwellings, unless for a specific reason.

Later in August, Aberdeen was also placed under local lockdown with a five-mile restriction on non-essential travel and a ban on indoor gatherings. Social visits between households were banned in Glasgow following a surge in cases, but hospitality businesses were allowed to stay open.

The government also published a travel list of places where people had to self-isolate upon their return to the UK, as summer holidays began. There were originally 60 countries on the list, but nearly daily fluctuations meant countries were put on and removed from the list with little time for people to prepare.

In August, chancellor Rishi Sunak launched the popular Eat Out to Help Out scheme, which helped boost the beleaguered hospitality industry. A number of restaurants extended the scheme for another month.

People were also urged to return to the office in August. Mr Johnson faced criticism for the drive to get people back to work, after a senior government source was quoted by The Telegraph as saying that staff who continue to work from home may be “vulnerable” to getting sacked.

But signs that the number of infections were rising again by the end of the month of August were concerning. On 27 August, 1,522 new cases were recorded in 24 hours, the highest tally since mid-June.

September - now

The rate at which Covid-19 was spreading started to speed up in September, with the R number rising above 1. By 25 September, the number of positive infections in the UK reached a new high of 6,874, according to government figures.

The rule of six was introduced in England as a result early in the month, and the 10pm curfew on hospitality businesses came in towards the end of September.

Large swathes of the northeast of England were placed under local restrictions in the first half of September, including areas surrounding Bolton and South Tyneside. In Northern Ireland, Stormont banned households from mixing in Belfast and its surrounding areas from 14 September.

Fast forward to today, as Liverpool is expected to be placed in the highest risk category for coronavirus restrictions. Manchester and Newcastle are also among those facing tough new rules on socialising.

The tough new restrictions may have to remain in place until after Christmas, culture secretary Oliver Dowden has suggested. On 22 September, Mr Johnson said the challenges thrown up by coronavirus will make this winter “unquestionably difficult” as the UK continues its fight against the disease.