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The United Kingdom's response to the COVID-19 pandemic consists of various measures by the healthcare community, the British and devolved governments, the military and the research sector. Throughout the pandemic, the British and devolved governments disseminated advice to the public, enacted numerous public health laws including several ...
Oct 2, 2023 · The public health response by UK governments to COVID-19. The fourth of five BMA reports, each with a particular focus on the pandemic response. Location: UK. Audience: All doctors Patients and public. Updated: Monday 2 October 2023. On this page: About this report.
- Introduction
- Covid-19: Data and Impacts
- Living with Covid-19
- Protecting People Most Vulnerable to Covid-19
- Maintaining Resilience
- Securing Innovations and Opportunities from The Pandemic
- Legislation
- Annex: International Comparators
The Government’s aim throughout the COVID-19 pandemic has been to protect the lives and livelihoods of citizens across the United Kingdom (UK). This document sets out how the Government has and will continue to protect and support citizens by: enabling society and the economy to open up more quickly than many comparable countries; using vaccines; a...
Vaccination, infection and hospitalisation rates
Booster doses of a COVID-19 vaccine provide good protection against severe disease and hospitalisation for the Omicron variant. Following two doses of the Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccines, a Pfizer booster initially gives around 90% protection against hospitalisation, though this effect wanes over time.[footnote 14] Similarly, a Moderna booster gives 90 to 95% protection against hospitalisation up to 9 weeks after vaccination.[footnote 15]
Reporting on COVID-19
As testing reduces and the Government’s approach to managing COVID-19 further evolves, UKHSAwill keep the content and frequency of reporting on COVID-19 under close review - including the Gov.uk Dashboard - to ensure that statistics are being produced with the appropriate level of quality and transparency, and remain useful and relevant as per the Code of Practice for Statistics.
Impact of COVID-19 response to date on the economy and society
Since March 2020, to reduce transmission, protect the NHSfrom unsustainable pressure and to reduce mortality, the Government has had to introduce stringent measures by restricting social and economic activity. The measures introduced were necessary because COVID-19 was a new disease to which the population had no immunity, and for which there was no readily available treatment. However, the measures introduced had extraordinarily high social and economic costs with unprecedented impacts on in...
The past 2 years have seen many necessary restrictions imposed on everyday life to manage COVID-19, but these have come with a huge toll on wellbeing and economic output. Scientists (including virologists, epidemiologists, clinicians, and many others) and the Government now understand more about COVID-19, how it behaves and how it can be treated. A...
Since March 2020, the medical and scientific community has learned a lot more about COVID-19, what makes someone more or less vulnerable to it, and how to manage the virus in higher risk settings. At the start of the pandemic very little was known about risk factors from COVID-19 and vaccines were unavailable, so the Government took a precautionary...
As set out in the introduction, the future path and severity of the virus is uncertain and it may take several years before the virus becomes more predictable. During this period further resurgences will occur, it is possible more severe variants will emerge and there will sadly be more hospitalisations and deaths. As a result, the Government is ta...
The COVID-19 pandemic has been a unique challenge for governments, communities and businesses across the world. These challenges have brought with them opportunities for innovation, as new approaches were developed and deployed at scale and pace. The Government is committed to securing the innovations and opportunities which have emerged during the...
During the pandemic, the Government has had to introduce regulations and legislation involving unprecedented government intervention in order to protect public health, and support individuals, businesses and public services. As part of the implementation of the living with COVID-19 strategy, the Government will make the following legislative change...
Figure 4: Proportion of total population of European countries who have received one dose of COVID-19 vaccine
European countries filtered to the top 30 largest by population Bar chart showing the percentage coverage of first doses of the vaccine in the top 30 most populous European countries. The UK and Sweden are 11th with 77% of their total populations having received a first dose. Portugal has the highest first dose coverage at 95%.
Figure 5: Date at which 50% of the total population of European countries received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine
European countries filtered to the top 30 largest by population Chart showing the date when the top 20 most populous European countries, reached 50% first dose vaccination coverage of the total population. The UK is first, achieving this vaccine coverage on 29 April 2021. The speed of the UK’s initial vaccine rollout in early 2021 had a direct impact on the ability to open up the economy, and ease social restrictions sooner than other comparator countries last summer. The success of the rollo...
Figure 6: Proportion of total population of European countries that are fully vaccinated with a COVID-19 vaccine
European countries filtered to the top 30 largest by population Bar chart showing the percentage of the total population who are fully vaccinated in the top 30 most populous European countries.The UK is 12th, along with Greece, Netherlands, and Austria, with 72% of their total population having received a full vaccine protocol. Portugal has the highest proportion of their population fully vaccinated at 91%. Data extracted on 20 January 2022, however, differences in reporting mean dates of und...
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, the UK Government introduced various public health and economic measures to mitigate its impact. Devolution meant that the four nations' administrative responses to the pandemic differed; the Scottish Government , the Welsh Government , and the Northern Ireland Executive produced ...
The COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom is a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 . In the United Kingdom, it has resulted in [until when?] 24,927,820 confirmed cases, and is associated with 232,112 deaths.
DateCases (rise)Deaths (rise)2020-03-05114 (+29)1 (n.a.)2020-03-06160 (+46)2 (+1)2020-03-07206 (+46)2 (=)2020-03-08271 (+65)3 (+1)Aug 27, 2020 · Results. UK-wide COVID-19 cases and deaths were 313,798 and 46,706 respectively (472 cases and 70 deaths per 100,000 population) by 12th August. There were regional variations in England, with London and North West (756 and 666 cases per 100,000 population respectively) disproportionately affected compared with other regions.
May 15, 2020 · The four-pronged plan of 3 March to contain, delay, research, and mitigate was supported by all UK countries and backed, they claimed, by science. 1 With over 30 000 hospital and community deaths by 12 May, where did the plan go wrong? 2 What was the role of public health in the biggest public health crisis since the Spanish flu of 1918?
