EMPTY shelves, furlough and future of businesses are once again on the forefront of people's minds as England heads into another national lockdown, but how did we get here?

A lot has happened in the UK since January when the first Covid cases in the country were announced. Prime Minister Boris Johnson barely had time to implement his three tier Covid system before announcing a second lockdown. 

The move has been seen across Europe as other countries battle their own second waves, with the likes of France and Germany introducing full or partial lockdowns.

As a result, The Northern Echo has put together a timeline of Covid cases with an overview of key developments each month to add context to numbers.

Here is a timeline of events from across the UK:

Total cases correlate with the end of each month, alongside a synopsis of how the response to the pandemic developed in that time frame. 

The rise in cases is as predicted by WHO, who in early September warned of a European surge in October and November.

The first case of Covid can be dated back to November 17 according to reports on unpublished Chinese Government data, meaning it could be almost a year since the first signs of the virus emerged.

Here is how Covid took hold of the entire globe: