'We won't forget you': Tribute to London’s Covid victims five years on from first case

The London Ambulance Service (LAS) has paid tribute to the capital’s Covid victims as the capital marks five years since its first case was confirmed. More than 230,000 people across the UK died as a result of the virus during the pandemic, which overwhelmed the nation’s health services and led to several national lockdowns. The capital became an epicentre of the virus, which caused the city to shut down completely as people swapped offices to work from home. Almost all shops and other services were closed.

In a tribute posted on social on Wednesday, the LAS shared a poignant message to remember those who lost their lives. Alongside the message, the London Ambulance Service (LAS) shared an image that read: “There are special people in our lives that never leave us, even after they are gone.”. “And we will never forget everything you did for us, and continue to do for us,” a social media user wrote in response.

On February 12, 2020, a woman who had recently travelled from China tested positive for Covid in central London, marking the first case in the capital. At the time, a total of nine people had tested positive across the country - but few could have predicted the severity of the pandemic yet to come. It was a month after London’s first case was detected that the then Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the UK’s first national lockdown.

The capital’s health service staff, which included LAS paramedics, were critical to supporting London’s response and keeping people safe. “Every day they stayed away from home to protect loved ones, every extra shift they picked up, every dinner with friends and family missed because they were working late, has made a very real difference to our patients and colleagues.”. For many frontline healthcare staff, the impact of the pandemic proved incredibly testing and has been difficult to forget.

“Out of work we had the same challenges that the wider population was facing - but these were on top of completing 12-hour shifts. When people began hoarding and bulk buying it was depressing going to the shops after work, just to buy the basics, to find the shelves were empty.”. He added: “The upside to this pandemic, if any, has been how the ambulance team and the wider NHS came together to tackle the challenges pitted against us.”.

The UK went through three lockdowns, and hundreds of thousands of families across the UK lost loved ones in one of the world’s most devastating health crises. Fortunately, the UK’s rapid roll out a national vaccine programme quickly helped curb the spread of Covid cases. Next month, the UK will observe a national ‘COVID-19 Day of Reflection 2025’ to commemorate five years since the pandemic started.

“As each year passes since the height of the pandemic it can feel as if Covid is more and more of a distant memory. And yet I know from the conversations the UK Covid Commemoration Commissioners had, that those who lost loved ones appreciate a day when many others will also remember those who lost their lives with them,” said the Chair of the Covid Commemoration Commission, Baroness Morgan of Cotes.