LONDON — The U.K. has had a lot to reflect on. A year to the day since Prime Minister Boris Johnson first put the country under lockdown to slow the fast-spreading coronavirus, Britain paused Tuesday to remember those who have died after contracting covid-19 and reflect on a year that has turned life upside down.
The U.K., which has spent much of the past year in lockdown, has registered more than 126,000 virus-related deaths, the highest pandemic death toll in Europe and one of the highest in the world.
The country observed a minute’s silence at noon to remember the dead as part of a national day of reflection organized by the end-of-life charity Marie Curie. People were also encouraged to stand on their doorsteps at 8 p.m. with phones, candles and flashlights to signify a “beacon of remembrance” while major landmarks were illuminated.
Johnson thanked the British public for their “courage, discipline and patience” and said a permanent memorial to those who died during the coronavirus pandemic will be built.
“For the entire British people it has been an epic of endurance and privation,” Johnson said at a televised news conference. “Of children’s birthday parties canceled, of weddings postponed, of family gatherings of all kinds simply deleted from the diary.”
Queen Elizabeth II sent a bouquet of flowers to London’s St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, where her husband, Prince Philip, was recently treated for a heart condition.
“As we look forward to a brighter future together, today we pause to reflect on the grief and loss that continues to be felt by so many people and families, and pay tribute to the immeasurable service of those who have supported us all over the last year,” she said in an accompanying note.
London’s skyline turned yellow at nightfall when landmarks including the London Eye, Trafalgar Square and Wembley Stadium were lit up. Joining them were parliaments and assemblies across the U.K. as well as other notable buildings including Cardiff Castle and Belfast’s Titanic Building.
(File Photo/AP/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
A nurse holds a painting of Prime Minister Boris Johnson clapping with blood on his hands in August as part of a demonstration of National Health Service workers at hospitals across London to demand a 15% pay raise from the government in London.
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A woman is told to go home in April by a police officer on a motorbike to stop the spread of coronavirus and keep the park open for people observing the British government’s guidance of social distancing, only using parks for dog walking or one form of exercise a day, such as a run, walk, or bike ride alone or with members of the same household, on Primrose Hill in London.
(File Photo/AP/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
A patient is helped from an ambulance in March 2020 as they arrive at St Thomas’ Hospital, one of may hospitals on the front line of the coronavirus outbreak in London.
(File Photo/AP/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
An image of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II and quotes from her historic television broadcast commenting on the coronavirus pandemic are displayed April 9 on a big screen at Piccadilly Circus in London.
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Amelie and sister Camille look out their front window in April as the lockdown enters its third week along with their parents Victoria and Damian Kerr in Berkhamsted, England.
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A member of the public swabs herself on the first day of the pilot scheme of mass testing in Liverpool in November. Liverpool was the pilot project for possible weekly testing of the entire population, covering up to 10 million people across England a day.
(File Photo/AP/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
Students Henry Holness (left) and Eddie Favell raise their hands in class during their first day in September at Kingsdale Foundation School in London. At the time, schools in England were starting to open with special measures in place to deal with coronavirus.
(File Photo/AP/ Matt Dunham)
A sign requesting people stay 2 meters apart to try to reduce the spread of covid-19 is displayed in June in front of “Out of Order,” a 1989 red phone box sculpture by British artist David Mach in Kingston upon Thames in southwest London.