Events from the year 2021 in the United Kingdom.
Incumbents
Monarch – Elizabeth II
Prime Minister – Boris Johnson (Conservative) Parliament – 58th
Events
January
2 January – COVID-19 in the UK: A record high daily positive test figure is reported at 57,725, as the new strain of the virus continues to spread. 4 January COVID-19 in the UK: In a televised address, Boris Johnson announces a new, third COVID-19 lockdown for England, with people ordered to stay at home, and all schools and colleges to switch to remote learning from 5 January. This is expected to last until at least mid-February. A new record high daily positive test figure is reported at 58,784. The UK's second vaccine against COVID-19, developed by Oxford–AstraZeneca, begins to be rolled out. Most of England's primary schools reopen after the Christmas break, amid concerns over whether pupils should be returning during the current level of COVID infections. Most schools close again the following day. The Joint Biosecurity Centre recommends that the COVID-19 alert level is moved from 4 to 5, indicating a "material risk of healthcare services being overwhelmed". Nicola Sturgeon announces tougher restrictions for mainland Scotland to contain the new strain of the virus, implementing a stay-at-home order from midnight and delaying the return to school for pupils until February. The extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange from the UK to the US is blocked by a court in London, due to concerns over his mental health. 5 January – COVID-19 in the UK: The number of new daily confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the UK surpasses 60,000 for the first time since the pandemic began, at 60,916. 6 January COVID-19 in the UK: Education Secretary Gavin Williamson announces that GCSE and A-Level exams in England this summer will be replaced by teacher assessments, telling MPs he would "trust in teachers rather than algorithms". Another record daily case figure is reported, with 62,322 new infections. The daily number of deaths from the virus exceeds 1,000 for the first time since April 2020. 7 January – COVID-19 in the UK: Two anti-inflammatory medications, tocilizumab and sarilumab, are found to cut deaths by a quarter in patients who are sickest with COVID-19. 8 January COVID-19 in the UK: A third vaccine is approved for public use, made by US company Moderna and offering 94% protection from the virus. A major incident is declared in London by mayor Sadiq Khan, stating that the spread of the virus is "out of control" in the capital. The highest number of daily deaths since the pandemic began is recorded at 1,325. A new record high daily positive test figure is reported at 68,053. 9 January – COVID-19 in the UK: Buckingham Palace say that the Queen and Prince Philip have both received the first doses of their COVID-19 vaccinations at Windsor Castle. 10 January COVID-19 in the UK: Professor Peter Horby, chair of the government's New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group says on The Andrew Marr Show "we are now in the eye of the storm" and "it was bad in March, it's much worse now." Health Secretary Matt Hancock tells the BBC that everybody in the top four most vulnerable groups will be offered a vaccine by 15 February, while every adult in the UK will be offered one by the autumn. 11 January – Khairi Saadallah is sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of three men and the attempted murder of three others during a stabbing in Forbury Gardens in Reading in June 2020. 13 January – COVID-19 in the UK: The highest daily death toll since the pandemic began is recorded, at 1,564. 14 January – COVID-19 in the UK: The government bans travel from South America and Portugal over concerns of a new Brazilian variant of COVID-19. 15 January – COVID-19 in the UK: Boris Johnson announces that the UK is to close all travel corridors from 18 January to "protect against the risk of as yet unidentified new strains" of COVID-19, forcing all passengers travelling to the UK to produce a negative test result. 18 January – COVID-19 in the UK: Figures compiled by Our World in Data (OWID) show that the seven-day average for this week in the UK is the highest death rate per million population from COVID-19 of any country in the world after an average of 935 daily deaths were recorded, the equivalent of more than 16 people in every million dying each day from the virus. 19 January COVID-19 in the UK: Based on testing for antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimates that 1 in 10 people across the UK had the virus by December 2020 – nearly double the November figure. The highest daily death toll since the pandemic began is recorded, at 1,610.