A YEAR ago Boris Johnson announced the UK would be heading for the first of its Covid-19 lockdowns.

Over the next 365 days, Cheshire would see a huge amount of loss, heartbreak, and pain as 1,644 residents lost their lives to the virus. Despite that, the county also saw a huge amount of generosity, kindness, and community spirit as it battled the pandemic.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service looks back at the key events in Cheshire's Covid timeline.

Spring 2020

Although March 23, 2020 was when the entire country felt the effects of coronavirus with lockdown, Cheshire had been feeling some of its impacts for some time.

The first signs of Covid in Cheshire came in late January, when Knutsford man Matt Raw quarantined in Arrowe Park Hospital in Wirral, having recently returned from Wuhan — the Chinese city which is thought to be where the virus originated.

He left his isolation period just before Valentine's Day, but it was in late February when the pandemic really started to bite.

That came when Northwich's Cransley School was closed over fears that a ski trip to Italy had brought the disease back to Cheshire.

And Cheshire's first confirmed Covid-19 case was another resident returning from Italy, with a Warringtonian testing positive on March 11.

Sadly, just three days later, the county saw its first Covid-19 death, after a man in his 80s with underlying health conditions passed away at the Countess of Chester.

He was the 21st coronavirus death in the UK. As at the time of writing, there have sadly been 125,810 more people to die due to the virus.

It was at this point in which Boris Johnson imposed the lockdown — and one month later, human vaccine trials started down in Oxford, testing facilities opened up at Leighton Hospital for key workers, and Daneside Court care home confirmed a number of residents had passed away from 'suspected coronavirus'.

Summer 2020

May came in with the news that the UK now had the capacity to test 100,000 people daily, and that Cheshire's death figures had slowly started to fall, as had its case numbers — largely as a result of the first lockdown's limits on social contact.

It was in the middle of this month in which the Prime Minister announced that some measures would be relaxed, including the return to work for some firms.

It was also at this time in which CWAC was chosen as one of the first parts of Britain to use the new NHS Track and Trace service — which would lead to political tensions with Westminster down the line.

In June, some school years went back to the classroom, and non-essential retail opened up, as case numbers in Cheshire East and Cheshire West passed the 2,500 mark combined.

Pubs, restaurants, barbers and places of worship opened up their doors on July 4, which was also the weekend that figure above passed 4,000 — a stark reminder in hindsight that even when cases were at their lowest, with Cheshire East recording no cases on July 11 and Cheshire West scoring zero on July 6, they could climb rapidly.

Later in the month, mask-wearing became mandatory in shops, and more restrictions were imposed on the north west, with ministers banning household mixing indoors in Greater Manchester from July 30.

August began with Cheshire West Director of Public Health Ian Ashworth pleading with residents to follow the guidance in order to 'prevent local lockdowns'.

Autumn 2020

September was the month in which cases climbed. In Cheshire West there were 9 new cases on September 1 — and 64 new cases on the last day of the month.

In light of this, its leaders warned that it was the last chance to stop a local lockdown — but stated they would not ask for more regulations from the government.

Over in Cheshire East, it started September with 16 new cases and ended with 57 on September 30, as council leaders toyed with the idea of asking for extra measures to be implemented.

October saw an almighty stand-off between Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham and the government over its support for areas entering the toughest local restrictions — which culminated in the formalisation of the Tier system we knew for a time — but its future looks unclear.

Initially, Cheshire East and Cheshire West were placed in Tier 2, although many of its neighbours were in tougher positions.

The end of October hinted at a new national lockdown — dubbed a 'circuit-breaker'.

Winter 2020/21

The dawn of November saw in a new four-week lockdown, which helped to ease pressure on the NHS — but also saw the emergence of a new variant of the virus which is thought to be much more easily spread, although no more harmful.

When England left lockdown, it used an updated version of the Tier system, with both Cheshire West and Cheshire East staying in Tier 2 — albeit these rules were now more stringent.

And they were to get even stricter, as case numbers rocketed before Christmas, leading Cheshire and Warrington to be in Tier 3 from Boxing Day.

That trend continued, and both boroughs were put into Tier 4 — tantamount to a full-scale local lockdown — on December 30.

With New Year's celebrations confined to remaining indoors, it was clear that nationally the Covid pandemic would get worse before it got better.

In light of alarming rises in hospital admissions, the Prime Minister took to the TV screens again on January 4 to announce that, from the next day, another lockdown would be imposed.

That was also the date in which Cheshire saw its highest levels of infection.

On January 4, Cheshire East's rate was 497.7 cases per 100,000 residents, and Cheshire West's was 626.1.

A few days later, it was revealed that The Countess of Chester hospital was the "busiest" for Covid in the north west.

At the time, 50 per cent of all Countess beds were taken up with coronavirus patients — but this then rose to 61 per cent.

Since that point, cases and hospitalisations have both fallen dramatically — with both borough's infection rate now just 10 per cent of what they were at the start of 2021.

That's also been helped by a strong vaccination effort, which has jabbed nearly half of all Cheshire and Merseyside adults since December.

Now, on the first anniversary of lockdown and a week to go until lockdown three is lifted, Cheshire is slowly beginning to return to normal life.