He also said now was not the time to learn lessons, but Labour accused the Conservatives of “monumental mistakes”.
Those mistakes have been well-covered. Some are clear with hindsight, but many were pointed out at the time; not closing our borders to people from virus hotspots sooner, locking down too late, abandoning community testing early on, then spending billions on a track and trace system which couldn’t track and trace tens of thousands of people.
In fact, some would argue that from that moment in March where the prime minister proudly declared he would be shaking hands with covid patients - the country was behind where it needed to be in tackling the pandemic. And has arguably never recovered.
Published:
9:07 AM January 19, 2021
A man walks past a poster in the window of a Primark shop in the final week of a four week national lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus.
- Credit: PA
Almost half of all deaths between March and December last year in Norfolk s worst hit neighbourhoods were from coronavirus.
ONS data shows the virus was responsible for 802 deaths in the region – 8pc of the 10,442 deaths recorded.
The highest Covid death toll came in Swaffham, where 26 people died. In all, 123 people in the town died during the same period, meaning the virus was responsible for 21pc of deaths.
Published:
9:07 AM January 19, 2021
A man walks past a poster in the window of a Primark shop in the final week of a four week national lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus.
- Credit: PA
Almost half of all deaths between March and December last year in Norfolk s worst hit neighbourhoods were from coronavirus.
ONS data shows the virus was responsible for 802 deaths in the region – 8pc of the 10,442 deaths recorded.
The highest Covid death toll came in Swaffham, where 26 people died. In all, 123 people in the town died during the same period, meaning the virus was responsible for 21pc of deaths.
Jon Williamson from Norwich struggled with his addictions during lockdown
- Credit: Jon Williamson
One month into the first lockdown Jon Williamson stood on the edge of relapse.
The 41-year-old, from Northumberland Street in Norwich, had taken his last drink in June, going from drinking at least 60 units of alcohol a day to sobriety in nine months.
“My sister died from pancreatic cancer, ” he said. “Watching her die like that made me need to stop.”
But when the country locked down in mid-March, Jon’s routine of four to five sessions of therapy and two to three AA meetings a week was pulled out from underneath him.
Amy Goreham delivered trampoline fitness classes from her kitchen during the first lockdown
- Credit: Amy Goreham
Hollie Watts put on six stone in eight months after being prescribed anti-depressants by her GP.
“The choice was to either get my mental health under control or not put weight on,” the 26-year old said. “I had to get my head sorted first.”
The mum-of-three from Walsoken, near Wisbech, joined a gym in February last year, but it was closed by lockdown a few weeks later.
Undeterred, she decided to act. For inspiration, she put pictures of how she used to look all over her house.