In Pictures: A year of coronavirus

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Key moments from the pandemic.

A staff nurse treats patient Peter Watts, 64, in the Emergency Department at St George’s Hospital in Tooting, south-west London
A staff nurse treats patient Peter Watts, 64, in the Emergency Department at St George’s Hospital in Tooting, south-west London

The end of January marks a year since the first cases of coronavirus were reported in the UK.

Here, we recall some of the striking images from the past 12 months, as captured by the PA news agency’s photographers.

JANUARY 2020

Passengers from a plane carrying British nationals from the coronavirus-hit city of Wuhan in China, walk from the aircraft after it landed at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire in late January 2020
Passengers from a plane carrying British nationals from the coronavirus-hit city of Wuhan in China leave the aircraft after it landed at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire in late January 2020 (Ben Birchall/PA)

FEBRUARY

Coaches carrying coronavirus evacuees arrive at Kents Hill Park Training and Conference Centre, in Milton Keynes, after being repatriated to the UK from the coronavirus-hit city of Wuhan in China
Coaches carrying coronavirus evacuees repatriated to the UK from Wuhan arrive at Kents Hill Park Training and Conference Centre in Milton Keynes (Aaron Chown/PA)

MARCH

Coronavirus drive-in test
An emergency department nurse at Antrim Area Hospital, Co Antrim, in Northern Ireland swabs a woman at a drive-in coronavirus testing site (Michael Cooper/PA)
A herd of goats taking advantage of quiet streets near Trinity Square, in Llandudno, north Wales during the first lockdown in March
A herd of goats take advantage of quiet streets near Trinity Square in Llandudno, North Wales, during the first lockdown in March (Peter Byrne/PA)

APRIL

An image of the Queen and quotes from her broadcast to the UK and the Commonwealth in relation to the coronavirus epidemic displayed at London’s Piccadilly Circus in April
An image of the Queen and quotes from her broadcast to the UK and the Commonwealth on the coronavirus pandemic were displayed at London’s Piccadilly Circus in April (Dominic Lipinski/PA)
Charity heroes
Captain Sir Tom Moore, then 99, at his home in Marston Moretaine, Bedfordshire, as he achieved his goal of 100 laps of his garden before his 100th birthday. He became a national hero after raising more than £32 million for NHS charities (Joe Giddens/PA)

MAY

Journalists sit at a distance while listening to Dominic Cummings, senior aide to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, make a statement in the Downing Street rose garden in May about his trip to Durham during lockdown restrictions
Journalists sit at a distance while listening to Dominic Cummings, senior aide to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who made a statement in the Downing Street rose garden about his trip to Durham during lockdown restrictions (Jonathan Brady/PA)
Fr Paddy McCafferty resuming hearing confessions in May
Fr Paddy McCafferty resumed hearing confessions in May while observing social distancing through the locked gates of Corpus Christi Church in Ballymurphy, West Belfast (Niall Carson/PA)

JUNE

People crowd on the beach in Bournemouth, Dorset, in June
People crowd on the beach in Bournemouth, Dorset, in June despite the public being reminded to practise social distancing following the relaxation of the coronavirus lockdown restrictions in England (Andrew Matthews/PA)
A masked passenger arrives at Heathrow in June
Passengers arriving at airports had to deal with a changing set of quarantine and travel corridor restrictions through the year (Steve Parsons/PA)

JULY

Carole Rickaby cuts the hair of customer Sandra Jacobs at Tusk Hair
Carole Rickaby cuts the hair of customer Sandra Jacobs at Tusk Hair in Camden, north London, after opening at midnight as the first lockdown restrictions were eased in England (Jonathan Brady/PA)
Judith du Vivier visits her 100-year-old mother Urania Brett for a surprise birthday party at the Compton Lodge care home in Camden in July
Judith du Vivier visits her 100-year-old mother Urania Brett for a surprise birthday party at the Compton Lodge care home in Camden (Dominic Lipinski/PA)

AUGUST

Tobias Weller
Tobias Weller, who has cerebral palsy and autism, was cheered on in August by Olympic athlete Jessica Ennis-Hill, after he completed his latest challenge to run a marathon in a street near his home in Sheffield, using a race runner. Tobias, who cannot stand or walk unaided, was inspired by Captain Sir Tom Moore to complete his first marathon on his daily walks back in April (Danny Lawson/PA)
Chancellor Rishi Sunak places an Eat Out to Help Out sticker in the window of a business during a visit to Rothesay on the Isle of Bute, Scotland
Chancellor Rishi Sunak places an Eat Out to Help Out sticker in the window of a business during a visit to Rothesay on the Isle of Bute, Scotland, in August (Jeff J Mitchell/PA)

SEPTEMBER

Protesters and police at a We Do Not Consent rally at Trafalgar Square in London, organised by Stop New Normal, to protest against coronavirus restrictions in September
Protesters and police at a We Do Not Consent rally at Trafalgar Square in London, organised by Stop New Normal, to protest against coronavirus restrictions (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

OCTOBER

Andrew Ilesley demonstrates how to use a self-test kit at the new walk-through Covid-19 testing centre in Dundee in October
Andrew Ilesley demonstrates how to use a self-test kit at the new walk-through Covid-19 testing centre in Dundee in October (Jane Barlow/PA)
Backstage technical crews who support the performing arts industry protested to call for more funding in Parliament Square on Halloween
Backstage technical crews who support the performing arts industry protested to call for more funding in Parliament Square on Halloween (Victoria Jones/PA)

NOVEMBER

Police officers and Bristol Council Covid marshals meet in the city centre for a briefing during a day of action to reinforce coronavirus lockdown regulations at targeted locations around Bristol
Police officers and Bristol Council Covid marshals meet in the city centre for a briefing during a day of action to reinforce coronavirus lockdown regulations at targeted locations around Bristol (Ben Birchall/PA)

DECEMBER

Margaret Keenan, 90, applauded by staff as she returned to her ward after she became 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
Margaret Keenan, 90, was applauded by staff as she returned to her ward after she became 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 (Jacob King/PA)

JANUARY 2021

Cubicles erected inside Salisbury Cathedral, Wiltshire, for people to receive an injection of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine
Cubicles erected inside Salisbury Cathedral, Wiltshire, for people to receive an injection of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine (Steve Parsons/PA)
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