The following is a timeline of the COVID-19 pandemic in England during 2021. There are significant differences in the legislation and the reporting between the countries of the UK: England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales.
Timeline January 2021 1 January – The UK government announces that all primary schools in London will remain closed for the start of the winter term. 2 January – Teaching unions have told primary school staff it is unsafe to return to school and urged them to implement remote learning as pressure grows on the government to keep schools closed for the first two weeks of January following its decision to do so in London. An anti-lockdown protest is held in Hyde Park in London; 17 people are arrested at the demonstration. Police chiefs have called for police officers to be given priority for COVID vaccinations after reports that 1,300 Metropolitan Police officers are absent from work because of the virus. 3 January – Following concerns about the safety of reopening schools, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has urged parents of primary age children to send them to school the following day if their school is open, saying there is "no doubt in my mind that schools are safe". Despite this, many primary schools have still decided to not open after the Christmas break. So far Essex Council has said that would keep schools closed at least until 6 January; Kent county Council along with Birmingham's education authorities asked the `Education Secretary to allow primaries to stay closed. They said the argument for reopening amid high infection rates “does not stack up”. Johnson has also stated that tougher restrictions are "probably about to get tougher" in some parts of England as COVID-19 cases continue to increase. Leader of the Opposition Sir Keir Starmer calls for a national lockdown to be announced within 24 hours in order to tackle the rising number of COVID cases. Wendy Simon, the Acting Mayor of Liverpool, and other Liverpool City Council members, have called for England to go into a national lockdown in order to curb rising COVID cases in the city. Garrett Emmerson, the Chief Executive of the London Ambulance Service, describes the service as being under "incredible pressure" but "coping". Paediatricians have sought to reassure parents that the new strain of COVID is not more dangerous to children after a nurse based at a London hospital told the BBC that her hospital had "a while ward of children" suffering with the virus. 4 January Most of England's primary schools are reopened, amid concerns over whether pupils should be returning under the current COVID restrictions. After saying there is "no question" that tougher COVID measures will be introduced "in due course", Prime Minister Johnson makes a televised address in which he announces another lockdown for England, with rules similar to those in March 2020. People are permitted to leave home only for essential reasons, which include work, daily exercise, essential shopping and medical treatment. Schools are closed from the following day, though vulnerable children and those of key workers may still attend, and pre-school remains open, while university students will not return to campus but instead have online tuition. End of year examinations are once again cancelled. Grassroots sport is suspended, but not elite sport. Dialysis patient Brian Pinker, 82, has become the first person to receive the Oxford–AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine. 5 January The UK records over 60,000 positive cases of COVID in one day, the highest ever, with over 50,000 of those cases being from England. Declaring that the government closed schools "with the heaviest of hearts", Cabinet Secretary Michael Gove confirms that GCSE and A Level examinations scheduled for summer 2021 have been cancelled, with grades once again based on teacher assessment. But while GCSEs and A Levels are cancelled, vocational exams such as BTECs will still go ahead. Labour Leader Sir Keir Starmer calls for a "round the clock" COVID vaccination programme to tackle the rise in cases. England's Chief Medical officer, Professor Chris Whitty, suggests "a few" COVID restrictions may be required in Winter 2021–22 to control the virus, particularly if people do not adhere to the government's "stay at home" message. 6 January With the third lockdown officially under way, Boris Johnson says he cannot guarantee that all children will be back at school before the summer holidays. MPs vote 524–16 in favour of the latest lockdown measures for England. Legislation for the 3rd national lockdown comes into force by putting every area in England into the tier 4 area and strengthening the restrictions. Education Secretary Gavin Williamson confirms that GCSE and A Level grades for summer 2021 will be based on teachers' assessment. The UK government announces seven new vaccination hubs for England, to be located in London, Newcastle, Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol, Surrey and Stevenage. They are scheduled to become operational from the following week. 7 January – A change in government rules regarding who can attend school now permits children without laptops or room to study to attend, sparking concerns schools will be overrun with such children. Nursery providers have asked the government to provide them with evidence that it is safe for them to remain open while schools and colleges are closed. 8 January – Sadiq Kahn, the Mayor of London, declares a "major incident" in London, where he says COVID is "out of control". Two UK's two headteachers' unions, the NAHT and ASCL, have expressed concern at the number of children attending school during lockdown and called for limits; school attendance is at 50% in some areas. An England-wide advertising campaign launches on television, fronted by Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty, urging people to stay at home and act as though they have COVID. The Telegraph reports that GP surgeries are being offered £1,000 to cancel appointments for the second COVID inoculation so that more first inoculations can be done, and are also being given a script for dealing with angry patients. With lockdown and school closures in force, it is reported that referrals for children with mental health problems have reached a record high. 10 January – Regular rapid testing for people without COVID symptoms are to be made available throughout England in the coming week. As it is reported that 130,000 letters have been sent out so far inviting people to regional vaccination hubs for a COVID vaccine, a number of people aged over 80 have questioned why they have been asked to attend venues that can be as much as a 30–45 minute drive from home when they have been asked to shield. 12 January – Home Secretary Priti Patel urges people to "play [their] part" in following COVID rules, and says she will back the police in enforcing them. A leaked memo warns that hospitals in Birmingham are "in a position of extremis" as COVID cases in the city rise, with 200 doctors set to be redeployed to the intensive care unit of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. It is reported that London's Nightingale Hospital has reopened and is taking COVID patients. Downing Street has defended Prime Minister Boris Johnson for taking a seven-mile bike ride, which it says complied with COVID regulations. The trip came to light after Johnson was spotted cycling in Olympic Park. 13 January – In a letter to the education watchdog Ofqual, Education Secretary Gavin Williamson suggests that GCSE, AS and A Level students could be asked to sit mini-exams in order to help their teachers decide "deserved grades". 14 January – Ambulance and COVID vaccination services in Yorkshire are hampered by heavy snow. 15 January – Professor Chris Whitty forecasts that hospital admissions will peak in the next seven to ten days. A small number of intensive care patients with COVID-19 are moved from hospitals in London to Newcastle Upon Tyne, it is reported. Police charge a 33-year-old man with fraud and common assault after he is alleged to have administered a fake COVID vaccine to a 92-year-old woman then charged her £160 in December 2020. Proposals published jointly by the Department for Education and Ofqual suggest GCSE and A Level results could be published in early July in 2021 rather than August as in previous years. 16 January – Former RAF Flight Sergeant Louis Godwin, 95, becomes the first person to receive a COVID vaccination at a vaccination centre established in Salisbury Cathedral. 17 January – Speaking to Sky News's Sophy Ridge on Sunday, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab says the government's target is to offer every adult their first dose of COVID vaccine by September, with some lockdown restrictions being eased by March. The UK government announces a financial support package for airports in England, which is scheduled to begin by the end of January. NHS England Chief Executive Sir Simon Stevens says that 140 COVID injections are being given each minute, a rate four times greater than the number of cases being detected. In a letter to the UK government, a group of London-based businessmen call for financial support for the rail firm Eurostar. The next phase of the COVID vaccination programme is announced, with people aged 70 and over, as well as those clinically extremely vulnerable, to begin receiving offers of vaccine over the forthcoming week. 18 January – A further ten mass vaccination centres are opened at venues in England, including Blackburn Cathedral and St Helens Rugby Ground. London is to begin trialling 24-hour vaccination centres by the end of January, it is reported. 19 January – Figures released by the Office for National Statistics suggest that as many as one in eight people, or 5.4 million people, had been infected with COVID by December 2020. 20 January – The government announces that the rollout of daily mass testing in secondary schools as an alternative to self-isolation will be paused because the benefits of it are unclear following the emergence of the new variant of COVID. 24-hour vaccination schemes are piloted at hospitals in Birmingham and Nottingham. 21 January – At a Downing Street Press Conference, Home Secretary Priti Patel announces that fines of £800 for anyone attending a house party of more than 15 people will be introduced in England from the following week. Education Secretary Gavin Williamson says that schools will be given two weeks notice before they return, but that he cannot say when this will be, though he hopes they will be open again before Easter. Pulse oximeters, which measure the oxygen level in the body, are being rolled out to patients at high risk of COVID, in a bid to detect the silent hypoxia element of the virus. The oximeter measures the level of oxygen in the blood. Boris Johnson says it is "too early" to say whether lockdown restrictions can be lifted in the spring. 22 January – The Metropolitan Police announce the break up of a wedding party at the Yesodey Hatorah Senior Girls' School in Stamford Hill, London. After initially claiming there were 400 attendees, they later revise this figure down to 150. A Downing Street spokesman has said there are no plans to give universal payments of £500 to everyone in England asked to self-isolate after the idea was suggested in a document produced by the Department of Health and Social Care. 24 January – Police have issued £15,000 in fines after 300 people attended a rave beneath a railway arch in London. Six COVID test centres across the West Midlands are temporarily closed after the area is hit by heavy snowfall. 25 January –