An eerie quiet on the streets as we all stayed in our homes
AS WE all stayed at home, these were the scenes outside as offices were deserted and shops were closed.
From March 24, 2020, people were only able to leave their home for education, work if they were unable to work from home, exercise outdoors, essential shopping and for medical reasons.
All non-essential retail closed and the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (furlough) was introduced to offer financial support for those unable to work.
Shopping streets were deserted until July when nonessential retail was allowed to reopen.
In August, Chancellor Rishi Sunak introduced the Eat Out to Help Out scheme, entitling diners to £10 a head off the price of a meal.
But inevitably a second spike of the virus loomed.
Speaking on October 31, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: ‘We have got to be humble in the face of nature. In this country alas… the virus is spreading even faster than the reasonable worst case scenario.
‘We could see death in this country running at several thousand a day, a peak of mortality, alas, bigger than the one we saw in the first wave.
‘The overrunning of the NHS would be a medical and moral disaster.’
On December 2, the country moved back into a tiered lockdown system.
Most places, including Portsmouth and the surrounding area, were placed into tier two for high alert.
Only the Isle of Wight and Cornwall were placed in the medium alert tier one.
Cases continued to rise and variations of the virus emerged.
Following a brief easing of restrictions for Chistmas, all of the UK, including schools, went into another national lockdown from early January.