New signage in Upper Garner Street Brighton as the Saturday market reopened on Friday 7th June 2020.

Boris Johnson said from June 1 both markets and car dealerships will reopen for business, as the transmission rate for the virus is much lower outside. The PM said due to the ‘progress we are making’ the country can now move to phase two of Covid-19 restrictions.

Where are we now ?

The first death in the UK came on March 5, when a woman in her seventies was confirmed to have died from the virus. The sequence of events has unfolded quickly since then, with the UK going into lockdown on March 23 2020.

Globally, at least 4.5 billion people – half the world’s population – were living under social distancing measures at the height of the pandemic in Europe, according to the AFP news agency’s estimates.

Those restrictions have had a big impact on the global economy, with the International Monetary Fund warning the world faces the worst recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

In Europe, the UK, Italy, Spain and France, now appear to have passed the peak, with the number of new confirmed cases and deaths falling.

The UK has reported more than 40,000 coronavirus deaths, the highest number in Europe. Italy has had the second highest death toll with almost 34,000, while both France and Spain are just below 30,000.

The majority of deaths involving COVID-19 in the UK have been among people aged 65 years and over (40,796 out of 45,748), with 47% (19,183) of these occurring among people aged 85 years and over.

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