Its [government] strategy – mitigation – was to manage its spread and limit its damage … Mitigating herd immunity was a balancing act. ibid.
Tonight we investigate how China covered up the scale of its Coronavirus crisis. The doctor and scientists prevented from telling the truth. We hear from those who have investigated the outbreak. And the government that insists it was open and transparent throughout. Panorama: China’s Coronavirus Cover-Up, BBC 2020
30 December 2019: 7 SARS cases have been confirmed from Huanan market. ibid. Chinese doctor’s mistaken text
‘They need to tell the people of Wuhan. But they don’t.’ ibid. Matthew Henderson, Asia Studies, Henry Jackson University
Until the 18th January China admitted to only 45 cases in the whole country. The true number in Wuhan was 4,000 alone according to British researchers. ibid.
23rd January: the entire city of Wuhan, population 11 million, was quarantined. Across China hundreds of millions would soon face travel restrictions. Beijing says the lockdown bought the world time. But the virus had already gone global. ibid.
More than 22,000 residents of UK have died with Coronavirus. Panorama has filmed at the height of the pandemic following staff, residents and families in two care homes. As they struggled to get the help they need, suffer agonising loss, and witness remarkable survival, this is the reality of life on the front line. Panorama: The Forgotten Front Line, BBC 2020
Since the lockdown began almost a quarter of a million babies have been born in the UK. I’ve come to Bradford to spend a week on the front-line of a maternity unit finding out how the pandemic has hit pregnancy and birth. Panorama: Stacey Dooley & the Lockdown Babies, BBC 2020
What is the new normal for babies born in 2020? ibid.
This is Bradford Royal Infirmary. Over 5,500 babies are born here every year. But over the last few months maternity services have had to change radically to keep women and children safe. ibid.
During lockdown we changed the way we think about food. Supermarkets struggle and eating out was ruled out … Five months into the crisis, we’ve got new habits … Have we changed the way we eat? Panorama: Has Lockdown Changed the Way We Eat?
We are still buying more groceries than before. ibid.
Staff across the whole of the food industry have been on the front line throughout the pandemic. ibid.
I am a Coronavirus tracer. My grey hairs that are turning up now have come from trying to deal with this system – it is driving me mad. I am also a whistleblower. Panorama: Test & Trace Exposed, Alex Lee reporting
From the start I experience chaos and confusion … I’m logging in and booking shifts. The system keeps crashing … They can’t seem to get the glitches out of the system … It’s driving me mad. ibid.
We investigate a Covid case that shocked Britain. Belly Mujinga’s death sparked protests after reports the transport worker had been spat at by a customer. The police say the man couldn’t have affected her. How could they be sure? Panorama: Belly Muginga: Searching for the Truth, BBC 2020
In the days that followed, Belly began to feel increasingly unwell. On April 2nd her son call an ambulance. The next day a doctor delivered the diagnosis he feared: Covid. ibid.
I’m Cash Jones. I’m 25 and a journalist at the BBC. Growing up I was taught that working hard was the way to get on. But seven months since Covid first put us into National Lockdown, the virus itself doesn’t seem to affect the young as badly as others, but the fallout has been devastating. Depressing. And the future for 16-26s now seems so uncertain. Tonight on Panorama I want to find out what the long-term impact of Covid could be on my generation. On education. Employment. And on mental health. Panorama: Has Covid Stolen My Future?
The city in the eye of the Covid storm. First into the top tier of restrictions. Now the first place to get mass testing. So how have people here handled the crisis? And will their sacrifices be worth it? Panorama: Liverpool: Fighting Covid
Liverpool: a vibrant capital of culture. A tourism industry worth nearly five billion pounds. And officially the best football team in the world. 12th October: 277 Covid-19 patients; 14th October: 323 Covid-19 patients … ibid.
‘Liverpool is a wonderful vibrant city … But we sadly do have pockets of some of the greatest multiple deprivation in Britain, in fact in Europe. The highest levels of Covid activity mirror the areas where there’s highest degrees of deprivations, and that’s because there's been of generations of bad diet, multiple occupancy within houses …’ ibid. Professor Calum Semple, Government SAGE committee
Nick was fined £1,000 but refused to close his gym. Others in Liverpool are also resisting the rules imposed by Westminster. People take to the streets, some Covid deniers, others angry about money. Frustrated about the rules. ibid.
Vials of liquid hope coming off the production line: a vaccine developed in the UK against Covid-19. It could be approved by Christmas. Panorama: The Race for a Vaccine, Fergus Walsh reporting
The team could move so quickly because of the template they used to design experimental vaccines for diseases like malaria, flu and a different Coronavirus called MERS. ibid.
By the end of the summer, trials of the vaccine were running in six countries. ibid.
Our health service is being pushed to the limit. A new variant of Coronavirus is driving record numbers of infections and deaths. Many hospitals are at breaking point. Now back in lockdown, our children are again learning from home. Mass immunisations is the only route back to normality, and the race is now on to vaccinate us all. Panorama: The Virus vs The Vaccine, BBC 2021
The largest vaccination programme in the history of the NHS … NHS and care home staff, the old and the vulnerable, are first in line. ibid.
It’s a disease that’s changed the UK. It’s affecting every one of us. 100,000 people have now died. Panorama: 100,000 Deaths
The gold rush as Britain’s health workers ran short of PPE. £12.5 billion of contracts were awarded, some to people with friends in high places. Big profits were there to be made. We reveal the dog-food supplier who took a cut of one of the biggest deals of all. And ask why even now the government is keeping secret crucial details of how the money was spent. Panorama: Cashing in on Covid
The UK bought its way out of the PPE crisis. But decisions about how billions were spent remain unexplained. ibid.
Covid’s caused a global health emergency. More than two and a half million people have died. Governments everywhere face the same challenges but responded in different ways. And there have been very different outcomes … Who got it right? Panorama: Covid: Who Got it Right? Jane Corbin reporting
I’m secretly filming inside one of the largest laboratories testing for Coronavirus in the UK. My evidence reveals how some people could be getting the wrong result. The government has spend over a billion pounds setting up a network of testing labs … I find frustrated staff losing faith in the system. Panorama: Undercover: Inside the Covid Testing Lab
Panorama has been told by sources about poor practices at the lab … A number of the tubes they come in leak … We’re working fast and we don’t always spot them [leaks] … Nobody noticed the barcode was missing … Technicians wipe off the gloopy samples with their gloves or a tissue … ‘This is about as disgusting as I have ever seen [expert].’ ibid.
The city in the eye of the Covid storm. First into the top tier of restrictions. Now the first place to get mass testing. So how have people here handled the crisis? And will their sacrifices be worth it? Panorama: Liverpool: Fighting Covid
Liverpool: a vibrant capital of culture. A tourism industry worth nearly five billion pounds. And officially the best football team in the world: 12th October: 277 Covid-19 patients; 14th October: 323 Covid-19 patients … ibid.
‘Liverpool is a wonderful vibrant city … But we sadly do have pockets of some of the greatest multiple deprivations in Britain, in fact in Europe. The highest levels of Covid activity mirror the areas where there’s highest degrees of deprivation, and that’s because there been of generations of bad diet, multiple occupany within houses … ibid. Professor Calum Semple, Government SAGE committee
Nick was fined £1,000 but refused to close his gym. Others in Liverpool are also resisting the rules imposed by Westminster. People take to the streets, some Covid deniers, others angry about money. Frustrated about the rules. ibid.
I got Covid last year but never got better. Like a million others in the UK I have Long Covid. I want to know why we’re feeling so bad. What’s behind this battling condition? And with fear of far more infections as Covid restrictions are lifted, will I ever get better? Panorama: Long Covid: Will I Ever Get Better?
At least one in eight people who get Covid go on to get Long Covid. Most say it has had a big impact on their lives. ibid.
Around a million people in the UK have Long Covid. Studies suggest most are women. ibid.