Covid lockdown three years on: Headlines in the Packet on first day

Then Prime Minister Boris Johnson placed the UK on lockdown in a bid to tackle the coronavirus – with threats of police fines for anyone who ignored new measures and a ban on public gatherings of more than two people.

He ordered the immediate closure of all shops selling non-essential items, telling people to only leave the house to shop for basic necessities “as infrequently as possible” and restrict themselves to one form of exercise a day.

In what we now know to be extreme optimism, Mr Johnson said the measures would be under constant review and suggested that they could even be relaxed in just three weeks’ time.

Today (Thursday, March 23) a ‘Walk and Talk’ event is taking place in Helston as part of the National Day of Reflection, which is held on this date each year since the first lockdown to remember those that died during the pandemic.

People are encouraged to join in the Fairground Car Park, opposite Coronation Park and boating lake, at 10am for what is described as a “gentle walk” to the lodge and back, followed by coffee at the Boating Lake Café afterwards for those that want to.

Organiser Kathryn Grace Bowman, of Marie Curie, said: “Let’s all come together to remember our loved ones who’ve died, support people who are grieving, and connect with each other.” 

Below, we look back at how the Packet covered the momentous news of the first lockdown – and what other Covid-related articles were already being reported even then.

Three Falmouth beach cafes close after queueing chaos

Life's a Beach cafe at Maenporth, Gylly Beach Café and Swanpool Beach Café all took the decision to close, in a bid to protect their customers’ health.

Life’s a Beach closed its doors after dozens of people failed to adhere to social distancing precautions whilst queueing.

They said at the time that they had tried to implement safety measures with queuing systems, but added: “We feel people are still not taking it seriously, social distancing seems to be a problem.”

Gylly Beach Cafe said it felt it would be “compromising the health” of customers and staff to stay open, and also sought to explain why they had stayed open thus far, adding: “These are indeed quite exceptional times that we find ourselves in, and contrary to the opinion of a few that have taken to social media to express their opinion, we have remained open the last few days, not to look after our profits but to provide a service to those that enjoy visiting the beach and providing a livelihood to our staff.”

And Swanpool Beach Café said: “Things have moved so quickly in the last few days that this now feels like the right thing to do.”

Read more here: Gylly Beach, Swanpool and Maenporth cafes close

Emergency Room set up in Helston as coronavirus efforts step up

The mayor’s parlour was turned into an Emergency Room in Helston as efforts stepped up to support residents during the coronavirus outbreak.

As of 9am on March 23, 2020 roles started being allocated to support people across the town, after almost 200 volunteers registered to help out on a Community Response Team.

Read more here: Coronavirus efforts step up with Emergency Room in Helston

Coronavirus sees fish export markets collapse

Cornwall Wildlife Trust encouraged the public to remember their local fishermen and to buy local sustainable seafood, after export markets to the continent have dried up completely at the same time the restaurant trade had been hit by government advice to control the spread of the virus.

As a result, local fishermen had seen markets for seafood crash, with many prices down to a tenth their usual rate.

Read more: Plea to buy local to support fishermen as export markets collapse and restaurants close

Cornwall Cricket season suspended

In sport, the Cornish cricket season was suspended indefinitely due to the coronavirus pandemic.

In a statement, the ECB said: “Following the Government’s latest advice around social distancing, it is with sadness and reluctance that we recommend that all forms of recreational cricket are for now suspended.”

Read more: Cricket season suspended until further notice

Coronavirus deaths in Cornwall rise to seven

Over the months that followed the Packet would bring daily updates on the number of confirmed coronavirus cases, and related deaths, in Cornwall.

On the first official day of lockdown there had already been five deaths that NHS England said were related to coronavirus, and two more were confirmed on March 23, 2020, bringing the total to seven.

Two years later, on March 22, 2022, that figure had risen to 399.

Chains closed due to the coronavirus outbreak

Nationally, several big chains took the decision to close all of their branches across the UK 'until further notice'.

The move came just days after many restaurants and food outlets sealed off seating areas and switched to a takeout option.

But with 5,000 people confirmed to have the coronavirus in the UK at that time, and around 300 having died as of Sunday, March 22, 2020, chains including McDonald’s, Nando’s, Costa Coffee, Starbucks, Watertones, Card Factory, Subway, Primark, Pizza Express, Pret A Manger, TGI Friday’s and Patisserie Valeire all announced they would be closing their doors.

Read more: McDonald's, Nando's, Starbucks, Costa Coffee and Subway close due to coronavirus: Full list