DAY OF THE DEAD COUNTDOWN FULL

'Our thoughts and condolences are with the patient's family at what is undoubtedly a very distressing time. She had been very unwell with significant other health conditions. Tony Chambers, interim chief executive of Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust, said: 'We can confirm that a patient, who was in her sixties, and who tested positive for COVID-19 has sadly died at Queen's Hospital. Our thoughts and condolences are with the patient's family.' 'The patient had tested positive for coronavirus. NHS England issued the below statements on behalf of Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, and Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust – both in London – regarding two patients in their hospitals who had died and had tested positive for the coronavirus (COVID-19).Ī spokesperson for Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust said: 'We can confirm that, sadly, an 89-year-old patient who was very unwell with underlying health conditions has passed away at Charing Cross Hospital. In these early stages of the pandemic, NHS officials provided more detail about the latest victims - a woman in her sixties from Essex and an 89-year-old who passed away in London.Īnother 140 cases of the virus were confirmed, taking the total amount of people tested positive to 590 - 40 times the size of the outbreak from a fortnight before. March 12, 2020: It's day three of the Cheltenham Festival and revellers are celebrating St Patrick's Day (early) at the races - despite PM facing calls to ban mass gatheringsīritain's coronavirus death toll increased to 10 following the deaths of two people with underlying health conditions. Over the next ten days, MailOnline will look back on those last days of freedom as the UK marks one year of lockdown. There were signs of what was to come on March 23 when the PM ordered the country to stay at home in a historic television address to the nation.Īfter moving into the second phase of his 'contain, delay, mitigate' strategy, the Prime Minister issued his memorably sobering message that 'many more families are going to lose loved ones before their time'.Įlsewhere, Italy's death toll had topped 1,000, France closed all schools - and a then little-known chief medical officer, Chris Whitty, raised the coronavirus threat level to high. Meanwhile, public transport had become noticeably quieter, with eerily abandoned airports and train terminals, and 'working from home' was emerging as an option for some commuters. However, a wave of panic-buying started to sweep the nation, with some seemingly more concerned about stocking up on toilet paper than social distancing - a strategy that had not truly taken hold by this point. No one could really believe that measures being taken in other countries - from quarantine and school closures to the concept of lockdown - would become the 'new normal' here.Īnd mask-wearing en masse in Britain was certainly not on anyone's radar - despite desperate measures being taken by some in China, who resorted to wearing plastic containers and bags on their heads to protect themselves from the virus due to a shortage of proper PPE. While more than 3,000 had died in China by March 12, 2020, there had been just ten deaths in the UK.īlissfully unaware of the scale of the carnage to come, tens of thousands flocked to the Cheltenham Festival, and pubs remained packed.īoris Johnson had been under huge pressure to cancel mass gatherings but insisted he was following 'scientific advice' that banning such events would have 'little effect on the spread'.

DAY OF THE DEAD COUNTDOWN FULL

A year ago today, the full impact of the coronavirus pandemic had yet to fully hit home with Britons.

Day of the dead countdown