London remembers a year of coronavirus - in pictures

The first case of coronavirus was officially confirmed in the capital on February 12, with tens of thousands more becoming infected and thousands sadly dying after contracting the virus since.

A minutes' silence was observed at midday on Tuesday, including in the House of Commons which led the 'moment of reflection'.

London became one the epicentres of the pandemic in the UK more than once, not least in the city's many NHS hospitals.

Image: Kirsty O’Connor/PA

Labour leader Keir Starmer meanwhile visited the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital and thanked NHS workers there for their efforts during the pandemic so far.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan visited the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

The mayor helped plant the final two trees in a new area on the anniversary of the first national lockdown.

A year after London was locked down, the UK's vaccination programme continued apace, including in the capital. 

NHS England data showed a total of 3,119,807 jabs were given to people in London between December 8 and March 22, including 2,900,430 first doses and 219,377 second doses.

Image: Stefan Rousseau/PA

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge joined the with Dean of Westminster The Very Reverend Dr David Hoyle and Paul Baumann, the receiver general and chapter clerk, for a visit to the vaccination centre at Westminster Abbey, London.

While there they paid tribute to the efforts of those involved in the Covid-19 vaccine rollout.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge arrive for a visit to the vaccination centre at Westminster Abbey, London. Image: Aaron Chown/PA

Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his chief scientific and medical advisors held a press conference this evening, a year after Johnson announced the first national lockdown.

England’s chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty, attending, said the number of Covid-19 deaths is falling more rapidly than the decline in new cases of the virus.

Speaking at the Downing Street press briefing, he said: "As you can see, rates of numbers of people testing positive for Covid in the UK is continuing to fall, but this is flattening off to some extent over the last week.

"And this is expected at this point of the curve in terms of it’s going down but more slowly, and we have always expected some upward pressure as people went back to school and some unlocking happened."

He said the number of people in hospital “has come right down, and is continuing to fall rapidly” due to a combination of lockdown and vaccine rollout.

On the number of deaths, he said: "These are falling and falling quite rapidly and you can see they’re falling much more rapidly than the rate of decline of number of cases."