Covid day of reflection in UK marks fifth anniversary since pandemic | UK News

People have been coming together to mark the fifth anniversary of the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in a nationwide day of reflection.

Emotional scenes were played out across the nation on Sunday as the bereaved and their communities hosted hundreds of events.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said: “As we mark five years since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, I know for many there is deep grief and loss that may never be relieved.”

The annual day is one of the recommendations set out by the UK Commission on Covid Commemoration.

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In London, sobbing could be heard as bereaved relatives, led by a Highland piper, joined well wishers to walk beside the National Covid Memorial Wall.

They passed 3,000 photographs of the faces of some of those who died, which represents just over 1% of the total death toll from Covid in the UK, organisers said.

Choir song and a water cannon salute on the Thames from a London Fire Brigade fireboat brought the event to a close.

A minute’s silence was held after the chimes of Big Ben and long-stemmed red carnations were cast into the River Thames.

Lynn Jones fought back tears as she remembered her “fit and healthy” 66-year-old husband Gareth who died after “spending seven weeks in hospital battling the virus on his own”.

She told those gathered at the London event that the Covid wall “is an expression of so many emotions – rage, love, grief, pain and unbearable sadness”.

Well-wishers at the National Memorial Arboretum in Burton-on-Trent heard a new poem from the writer, poet, broadcaster and former Children’s Laureate Michael Rosen, who spent time in hospital with Covid during the pandemic and was placed into an induced coma.

Across the UK, just under 227,000 people died who had the virus listed as a cause of death – with more than 16,000 in Scotland.

A choir sang and a poem was read to take people into a minute’s silence at the reflection event in Glasgow Green.

Doves were released and the event also included a wreath being laid, a plaque unveiling and individual yellow roses being left in memory of loved ones.

Earlier, Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney, who took part in the Glasgow ceremony, sent his “deepest condolences” to people who lost loved ones during the pandemic.

Speaking before the service he added: “Children stopped going to school, many shops and businesses were closed, and we were no longer able to spend time with friends and family as normal.”

Other events include a special prayer service at Manchester Cathedral and a remembrance concert with music, poems and readings in Belfast.