Originally published 2020-11-01.
England's second national lockdown was announced by Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Saturday 31 October 2020 and ran from 5 November to 2 December. Non-essential shops, pubs, restaurants, gyms and leisure venues closed, while schools, colleges and universities stayed open, a key difference from the spring lockdown. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland set their own rules at the same time.
The lockdown arrived as cases and hospital admissions climbed through the autumn, and as reports suggested that a vaccine might be weeks rather than months away. Those hopes proved justified: the UK became the first country to approve a Covid-19 vaccine on 2 December, the day the lockdown ended, and began vaccinating on 8 December. Here is what the November rules meant, why the government acted, how the four nations differed, and how the vaccine timeline unfolded.
What the November 2020 lockdown meant in England
People in England were told to stay at home except for specific reasons: work that could not be done from home, education, exercise, medical needs, shopping for essentials and caring for others. Supermarkets, pharmacies and other essential retailers remained open, and restaurants could still offer takeaway and delivery. Households could not mix indoors, although one person could meet one other person outdoors.
The biggest change from the first lockdown was education. Keeping schools open was a deliberate choice, reflecting growing concern about the harm that closures had done to children's learning and wellbeing in the spring. Universities also continued, although many teaching sessions moved online.
The lockdown was always planned to last four weeks. On 2 December England returned to a strengthened system of local tiers, with tight restrictions in many areas.
Why the government acted
By late October infections were rising faster than many planners had expected, and hospitals in parts of northern England were under heavy pressure. Government scientific advisers warned that, without stronger action, winter deaths could exceed those of the first wave; projections of tens of thousands of further deaths were reported at the time, although some of the modelling presented at the announcement was later criticised as out of date.
The UK already had one of the highest Covid death tolls in Europe. By the end of October 2020 more than 46,000 people had died within 28 days of a positive test, and the total was higher when counting every death certificate that mentioned Covid-19. The aim of the lockdown was to bring the reproduction number below one before the winter months, when the NHS normally faces its greatest strain.
How the four UK nations differed
Health policy is devolved in the UK, so the November lockdown applied to England only. The other nations had already moved:
- Wales held a 17-day "firebreak" lockdown from 23 October to 9 November, timed to coincide with the school half-term, closing pubs, restaurants and non-essential shops.
- Northern Ireland began a four-week "circuit breaker" on 16 October, closing pubs and restaurants.
- Scotland introduced a five-level system on 2 November, with restrictions set area by area.
The differences caused some confusion for people living near borders, and they are a reason to be careful with phrases like "the UK lockdown" when talking about this period.
Europe's second wave
England was not alone. France returned to a national lockdown on 30 October, and Germany began a month-long partial shutdown on 2 November, closing restaurants, bars, gyms and cultural venues while keeping shops and schools open. Like England, both countries kept children in classrooms, reflecting a shared view across much of Europe that schools should be the last places to close.
The vaccine hopes, and what actually happened
Throughout late October and early November, newspapers reported that a vaccine could be ready before Christmas. In Scotland, a leaked NHS planning letter reportedly told local partners to assume a vaccine would be available from mid-December and to prepare for a mass vaccination programme. The UK government also signalled that the armed forces could help with distribution.
The timeline turned out to be close to those predictions:
- 9 November 2020: Pfizer and BioNTech announced early results suggesting their vaccine was more than 90% effective.
- 2 December 2020: the UK medicines regulator, the MHRA, gave temporary authorisation to the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, making the UK the first country to do so.
- 8 December 2020: Margaret Keenan, aged 90, received the first dose outside a trial at University Hospital Coventry.
- 30 December 2020: the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine was approved, again with the UK first; the first dose was given at Oxford's Churchill Hospital on 4 January 2021.
- 8 January 2021: the Moderna vaccine became the third approved in the UK.
The armed forces did help, through a military Covid support force that assisted with planning, building vaccination centres and providing staff. Priority was set by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, mainly by age, to prevent deaths and protect the NHS.
The winter that followed
The November lockdown slowed the spread, but it did not end the second wave. A more transmissible variant, later named Alpha, was spreading in south-east England. London and nearby areas were placed in a new Tier 4 just before Christmas, Wales entered a full lockdown on 20 December, and England began a third national lockdown on 5 January 2021, with schools closed this time. The vaccine rollout continued alongside it, and by spring the combination of restrictions and vaccination brought cases, hospital admissions and deaths sharply down.
With hindsight, the optimism of November 2020 was partly right. The vaccines arrived as quickly as hoped, but it took months more of restrictions before life could begin returning to normal. Anyone with questions about vaccines and their own health should talk to a doctor or pharmacist.
Sources: Wikipedia: COVID-19 lockdowns in the United Kingdom; Wikipedia: COVID-19 vaccination in the United Kingdom.
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