UK reached the one-year mark of the first officially confirmed COVID-19 patient being treated by the state-funded National Health Service (NHS). Prime Minister Boris Johnson issued an open letter in praise of the collective efforts of the nation through the coronavirus pandemic lockdown. “While the past 12 months have been tough for all of us, the demands of this pandemic have also brought out the very best in a great many people,” Johnson said.

“And I'm particularly in awe of the way the parents, carers and guardians of children have risen to the unique challenges with which you have been faced,” he said. Sir Simon Stevens, NHS England chief executive  paid a visit to the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle upon Tyne, north-east England, where the first two confirmed COVID patients were cared for. Hospitals have treated more than 320,000 patients with COVID 19, with around one person with the virus admitted to critical care every 30 minutes so far. 

"Looking back a year on, it is incredible to think that my team treated what would be the first of many tens of thousands of COVID-19 patients across the country," said Dr Matt Schmid, who led the team that treated the patients. At the one-year anniversary mark, the NHS also highlighted that "Covid-only service" was not alone provided, and that there have always been at least twice as many inpatients without COVID-19 being looked after as there were with the viral infection in hospital. Nation still remains under a strict stay-at-home lockdown as the rate of coronavirus infections remains high, with the country's death toll from the deadly virus now at 104,371. 

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