One year has passed since the coronavirus pandemic started and turned our lives upside down. A lot has happened over the course of the last 12 months, and in this article, we’ll go over the main events in the UK that have marked the year that we leave behind.
Self-isolation: Causes and Consequences
In March 2020, the World Health Organisation declared the Covid-19 pandemic. Based on what they knew about the virus at that moment, they pointed to the importance of:
- Maintaining social distance.
- Using face masks.
- Disinfection of hands and works space.
People were asked to stay isolated as much as they can, which resulted in a great number of people spending more time at home than ever before. This caused many shops, restaurants, cinemas, and other venues to stop working as of March 20th.
On the other hand, people staying at home caused the expansion of the online market. People began spending more time visiting online shops or playing games on Ireland online casinos that resulted in more operators joining the online gambling market in the UK. The number of online casino players has grown significantly over the past year, which also led to more operators starting to offer generous welcome offers and bonuses.
The Economic Recession in Great Britain
The past year has also been marked by one of the greatest economic recessions that the UK experienced in the past 300 years. However, towards the end of the year, the figures began showing some improvement. The GDP grew by 1% from October to December. But the third wave of lockdown has just begun, and the outcomes can be worse than was predicted by experts.
More businesses are moving towards online operations since no one can predict when things will go back to normal. For example, the gaming industry is investing more in developing superior mobile games that are easy to play wherever and whenever. In this way, you wouldn’t be limited only to gaming consoles or PC games.
New Types of Communication and Entertainment
As people around the world started adapting to the “new normal”, there was an increase in demand for new and improved online communication and entertainment platforms. As mentioned before the gaming industry started investing more in mobile platforms, which resulted in a great number of amazing mobile casinos that are more practical than their computer counterpart. The players welcomed this transition, and there are now more mobile game players than ever before.
As far as communication goes, businesses that could operate from home started using platforms such as Zoom to conduct business meetings. Therefore, the value of this company exceeded the value of some of the largest oil companies in the world. Also, families and friends who maintained social distance mainly used FaceTime, Viber, and Telegram video calls to contact their loved ones.
Vaccine and Vaccination
On December the 8th 2020, Margaret Keenan became the first person in the UK to receive a Covid-19 vaccine, Pfizer. Until now, over 24 million people have been vaccinated with at least one dose in the UK. It’s expected that at least 32 million people will receive the first dose by April. The residents of the UK are getting vaccinated according to their age group. The elderly were given the priority status since they account for as much as 88% of the total death toll. Although the vaccination will take its time, it will inevitably help the entire world get back to normal.
Conclusion
The past year has brought many changes. From moving our businesses and our personal lives to the virtual world to economic crashes and the booming online entertainment industry, the pandemic impacted the way we think, act and make plans for the future.
