Coronavirus – The month everything changed
In the space of a month, the United Kingdom has transformed beyond recognition. And most of us haven’t had time to stop and take stock.
One Friday afternoon, when the UK was another country, a chalkboard leaned against the outside wall of a country pub. A message had been written in neat, thin capital letters. “Unfortunately a customer who visited us has tested positive for the coronavirus,” it read. “So
as a precautionary measure we are closing for a full deep clean.” It was signed by the landlord and landlady, who apologised for the inconvenience.
The pub was located along a quiet, narrow road just outside Haslemere in Surrey. The patient who had gone there lived somewhere in the county. Unlike previous British cases detected up to that point – he was the 20th – he hadn’t been abroad recently. As far as anyone knew, he
was the first to catch the virus inside the UK.