Hardly anyone in the UK had heard of Covid 19 when a new year dawned on January 1, 2020. But just the day before, on December 31, 2019, the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission in Wuhan City, Hubei province, China, reported a cluster of pneumonia cases with a common reported link to Wuhan’s Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, a wholesale fish and live animal market. By January 20, there were reports of confirmed cases from three countries outside China: Thailand, Japan and South Korea. These cases had all been exported from China. On January 23, Wuhan City was locked down – with all travel in and out of Wuhan prohibited – and movement inside the city was restricted.