January
Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, signed the EU withdrawal agreement, sent from Brussels by train. Sajid Javid, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, promised ‘an infrastructure revolution’ in the Budget. An American drone killed Qassem Soleimani, an Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard commander, near Baghdad airport. Iran carelessly shot down a Ukrainian airliner taking off from Tehran, killing 176. Bush fires raged in New South Wales. Cases of acute viral pneumonia were noticed in Wuhan in central China.
February
Eighty-three British evacuees from Wuhan were quarantined on the Wirral. The Department of Health classified Covid-19 as a ‘serious and imminent threat’. In Hubei 68 million people were made to stay at home. A field hospital for 1,000 was built in Wuhan in nine days. The Diamond Princess cruise ship was quarantined in Yokohama, with 3,711 on board; 700 eventually caught Covid-19 and 14 died. Rishi Sunak became Chancellor when Sajid Javid resigned rather than see his special advisers sacked.
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