The week before Christmas quickly turned chaotic as the health secretary, Matt Hancock, announced a new, more contagious strain of coronavirus had been found in south-east England.
The news resulted in a last-minute government U-turn over Christmas mixing rules, the implementation of a new, stricter coronavirus tier, and dozens of countries suspending travel from the UK days before the end of the Brexit transition period, prompting 'Plague Island' to trend on Twitter.
Here is a look back at the week of chaos · World's media ask how it went so wrong for 'Plague Island' Britain
