BBC News Published image captionSir Simon Steven visited Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary The anniversary of the UK's first Covid cases is an "appropriate" time for people to thank all NHS workers, the head of the health service has said. NHS England chief executive Sir Simon Stevens praised treatment innovations on a visit to Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary (RVI) on Friday. The hospital treated the UK's first two Covid-19 patients a year ago. The pair, a Chinese student and his mother, were in York when they fell ill with the virus. Sir Simon said: "These are the staff here at this hospital in Newcastle who treated the first coronavirus patients in England a year ago.