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 – a number of conservative mps, including robert halfon, chair of the house of commons education select committee, have urged the government to set out its strategy for reopening schools in england as concerns grow about the impact closures are having on children's education. in response, prime minister johnson says the government will give an update on when schools can reopen "as soon as we can". health secretary matt hancock says there are early signs that covid restrictions are working, but that it is "difficult to put a timeline" on when they can be lifted. 26 january – fines of £200 are to be given to 31 metropolitan police officers who broke covid rules by having a haircut; two officers who hired ta barber to give the haircuts are to face misconduct investigations. 27 january – prime minister johnson tells the house of commons it will not be possible for schools to return in england after february half-term, but that he is hopeful it can begin to happen from 8 march. a final decision will depend on meeting vaccination targets, and schools will get two weeks notice before returning. 29 january – the health protection (coronavirus, restrictions) (all tiers and self-isolation) (england) (amendment) regulations 2021 comes into force at 5.00pm, levying fines of £800 on anyone attending a house party with over fifteen people and allowing police to access track and trace data. education policy experts have called for schoolchildren in england to be allowed to repeat a year because of the school time they have missed during the pandemic. 30 january – health bosses in nottinghamshire have apologised after nottingham and nottinghamshire clinical commissioning group sent out letters to critically vulnerable children inviting them for covid vaccinations. 31 january – dr susan hopkins, head of strategy at public health england, says england's lockdown should be eased "very slowly, very cautiously". february 2021 1 february – nhs england confirms that every older care home resident in england has been offered a covid vaccine. health secretary matt hancock confirms that around 80,000 residents over the age of 16 in areas of surrey, london, kent, hertfordshire, southport and walsall are to be asked to take tests for the south african covid-19 variant after 11 cases were identified that could not be linked to travel. 2 february – health secretary matt hancock tells the house of commons people living in areas singled out for enhanced testing for the south african covid variant should get tested and stay at home unless it is essential to go out. hancock also tells parliament that liverpool and bristol are also areas of interest for new variants. figures published by the department for education show that 1.2 million school pupils (roughly 15% of the school population) were at school on 28 january, a rise from 14% the previous week. the increase in numbers comes from primary pupils and those attending special schools. 3 february – hampshire constabulary and sussex police have issued a community protection notice against a 30-year-old woman prohibiting her from visiting hospitals in hampshire and sussex without an appointment after she filmed empty hospital corridors and posted the footage online. 4 february – it is reported that teaching staff in london have been able to book and receive covid vaccinations meant for health workers after a link to the booking site was forwarded to them via whatsapp. 5 february – police in sheffield issue £34,000 worth of fines following a student party involving 150 people at a halls of residence. 6 february – testing for the south african covid variant begins in worcestershire after cases were discovered there with no apparent link to international travel. fourteen adults are fined a collective total of more than £11,000 after attending a first birthday party, nottinghamshire police have confirmed. 7 february – companies that employ over 50 people and whose employees cannot work from home are now eligible for lateral flow tests. the tests had previously only been available to firms with a workforce of 250 or more. 8 february – surge testing is to be introduced to parts of manchester after four cases of a mutated version of the b17 strain were found in two unconnected households in the city. deputy chief medical officer jonathan van-tam urges people aged 70 and over who have not received a covid-19 vaccination to contact the nhs "without delay". sir kevan collins, england's newly appointed education recovery commissioner, says that school pupils will need extra hours of learning, sport, music and drama to make up for education missed because of the pandemic. heavy snow brings disruption to the vaccination process, with centres in the south east and east anglia forced to close temporarily because of the adverse weather. 9 february – jonathan van-tam, england's deputy chief medical officer, warns people against booking summer holidays abroad in 2021, suggesting "the more elaborate your plans are for summer holidays... the more you are stepping into making guesses about the unknown". head teachers leaders have warned against giving school pupils longer hours and shorter holidays as a way of catching up with missed education. 10 february – four councils in england – eastbourne, bexley, luton and peterborough – are being given emergency funding to balance their books, communities secretary robert jenrick announces. jenrick says that while covid is to blame for the financial situation of some of the councils, others are in their predicament because of "very poor management". 11 february – figures published by nhs england indicate that in december 2020, 224,205 people had been waiting for 12 months or longer for routine hospital treatment, the highest number since april 2008. a new booking system is launched for the hotel quarantine scheme, but taken down again within minutes because of a "minor technical issue". office for national statistics figures show that 30,296 of the 50,888 covid patients who died in england between january and november 2020 had a disability. 12 february – sir simon stevens, the chief executive of nhs england, says england is on course to offer the top four priority groups their first covid vaccine by the target date of 15 february. the deadline to buy a property under the help to buy equity loans scheme is extended until the end of may amid concerns 16,000 sales could be at risk because of the covid crisis. 13 february – prime minister boris johnson says he is "optimistic" he will be able to set out "cautious" plans for reopening society later in the month. heathrow airport says there are "significant gaps" in the hotel quarantine scheme scheduled to begin on 15 february. a case of south african variant covid is discovered in the hampshire village of bramley, requiring all residents over the age of 16 to participate in surge testing. the leaders of the parliamentary covid recovery group have written to prime minister boris johnson urging him to lift all covid restrictions by the end of april. 14 february – foreign secretary dominic raab rejects calls by the covid recovery group to give a date for when restrictions will be eased. 15 february – people aged 65–69 and those aged 16–64 classed as clinically vulnerable are invited to book their covid vaccinations as the programme is expanded beyond the top four priority groups. the managed quarantine service begins: travellers entering the uk from or via "red list" countries must pay for 11 nights in a designated hotel. trade unions have expressed their concern that "patchy" financial support for people self-isolating because of covid-19 is leaving many facing financial hardship. a study conducted at the university hospitals of leicester nhs trust finds a lower take up of the vaccine among ethnic minority staff, with a 70.9% take up among white staff, compared to 58.5% of south asian staff and 36.8% of black staff. 16 february – an extra 1.7 million people are expected to be asked to join the 2.3 million already shielding from covid-19 after the development of a new model that looks at other factors in addition to health, such as ethnicity, weight and deprivation. at least half of these extra people are yet to receive covid vaccinations so will be prioritised for inoculation. surge testing for the south african covid variant is to be expanded in surrey, norfolk and southampton, while testing for a mutation of the kent variant will be expanded in manchester. west midlands police confirm that four passengers arriving in the uk have been fined £10,000 for failing to declare their visit to a "red list" country. 17 february – prime minister boris johnson says england's lockdown strategy will be led by "data not dates". anne longfield, the children's commissioner for england, calls for the government to focus on vulnerable children in plans to "build back better" after the pandemic. a woman from scarborough, north yorkshire, who deliberately coughed at police officers investigating a breach of covid rules is sentenced to four months imprisonment by the town's magistrates. 18 february – imperial college london's react study has indicated covid-19 infections in england have fallen by two-thirds since january, with an 80% drop in london. data from nhs england suggests that 3 in 10 care home staff are yet to be vaccinated against covid-19 despite being in one of the top priority groups. a man in his 30s with no underlying health conditions is offered a vaccine under the extremely clinically vulnerable category after an administrative error gave him a bmi reading of 28,000. the error, made by nhs liverpool clinical commissioning group, had meant the man's height was incorrectly recorded as 6.2 cm rather than 6 ft 2in. 19 february – a joint statement released by the uk's teaching unions suggests it would be "reckless" to reopen all schools for pupils in england on 8 march. 20 february – as part of plans to ease lockdown restrictions, care home residents will be allowed one visitor indoors from 8 march. they are asked not to hug or kiss, but hand holding will be permitted, and visitors must provide a negative covid test and wear ppe during the visit. 21 february – the organiser of a church group meeting that took place in a car park in nottinghamshire is fined £10,000 by nottinghamshire police for breach of covid regulations. 22 february – prime minister boris johnson unveils a four-step plan for ending coronavirus restrictions in england by 21 june. subject to four tests on vaccines, infection rates and new variants being met, the plan will include the following: schools and colleges will reopen on 8 march, with outdoor schools activities allowed; universities will return at a later time: outdoor gatherings of up to six people or two households will resume from 29 march, along with grassroots sports: non-essential shops, hairdressers, gyms and outdoor hospitality will resume on 12 april: two households will be able to mix indoors, with the rule of six applying to pub settings from 17 may: legal limits on social contact to be lifted by 21 june: speaking in the house of commons, johnson describes the plan as "cautious but irreversible" and something that will be led by "data not dates", further adding that there is "no credible route to a zero-covid britain nor indeed a zero-covid world". a mass testing programme is announced for all secondary schools in england, with home testing carried out twice a week. 24 february – education secretary gavin williamson announces £700m of spending to help pupils catch up with missed study, saying that no child should have their prospects "blighted by the pandemic". the organisers of the reading and leeds festivals say they are "confident" the event can go ahead in 2021 following the announcement of the easing of lockdown restrictions in england. 25 february – the exams watchdog ofqual confirms the results for gcses and a levels whose exams are cancelled because of covid-19 will be decided by schools using a combination of teacher assessment, coursework and exams. exam assessments will be available if required but will not be conducted under exam conditions, while results will be published