Portsmouth's first case of coronavirus was confirmed one year ago today

Public Health England announced that a person had tested positive for Covid-19 in the city on March 14, 2020.

12 months later, almost 14,000 cases have been confirmed in Portsmouth and on Saturday it was confirmed 884 deaths linked to the virus have been recorded at Queen Alexandra Hospital in Cosham.

The city’s first positive Covid test came nine days before the country went into the first lockdown and at the time 41 cases had been confirmed in Hampshire, making it the county most affected by the pandemic at the time.

It was also the first day that QA recorded a Covid-related death.

On March 14, 2020, a total of 1,140 people had tested positive for coronavirus in the UK – in the year that has followed this has increased to more than four million.

At the time 21 deaths linked to the virus had been confirmed across the country; 12 months later 125,343 people have died within 28 days of positive test and more than 2.6 million people have died from Covid across the world.

However 12 months after the first Covid case in Portsmouth was confirmed, the national vaccination programme is well under way and more than 23 million people have had at least one dose in the UK.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

You can subscribe here for unlimited access to Portsmouth news online - as well as fewer adverts, access to our digital edition and mobile app.

Our trial offer starts at just £2 a month for the first two months.