Coronavirus UK: Covid-19 was 'widespread' across UK in January - Metro.co.uk

Helen Ward, from Imperial College London, said Covid-19 was ‘spread out’ across the country in January and February – despite officials only catching the first case in late January.

Speaking on BBC Breakfast on Thursday morning, the British physician said: ‘What was interesting (about the study) is that we can tell from people who reported not only having a positive test, but we also asked about their symptoms so we can actually track for most people – the 70% of people who reported symptoms – when they think they were infected.

‘And it did start in January, February, and actually it started right across the country, so you can’t say that it started in London and spread out.

The first known coronavirus case in the country was on January 29, when two Chinese nationals fell ill at the Staycity Aparthotel in York.