With a year having passed since coronavirus cases were so high that a national lockdown was called, we have decided to take a closer look at how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted Welwyn Hatfield.

On the day of the lockdown, March 23 2020, there were five cases reported on the day bringing the total to 21 in Welwyn Hatfield, one year later that figure is above 8,000.

The first recorded death due to coronavirus in our area was on March 19 2020, at the start of the first lockdown that figure had risen to two.

By March 21 2021, the most recent data, that figure has reached 266.

ONS weekly figures reveal there were 149,117 deaths which involved coronavirus up to March 12 in the UK.

Currently Welwyn Hatfield has not had a recorded death due to coronavirus for 13 days in a row, while not the longest break without a death in the past year it is the longest break since the worst period of the pandemic.

January 2021 was by far the worst time period with regards to coronavirus related deaths and cases.

On January 1 2021 there were 99 total deaths due to COVID-19 in Welwyn Hatfield, by January 31 there were 211 - the death toll more than doubled in a month despite the third national lockdown.

The same was reflected in reported cases, which went from 4,028 at the start of the month, to 7,252 by the final day of the month.

The worst day for deaths in Welwyn Hatfield was January 13 and 16, when eight people sadly died on both days.

The worst day for cases was December 29, when 213 cases were reported - for perspective it took two months from the first case in Welwyn Hatfield to reach the same number of infections as it did for this single day.

Now it is believed that things won't ever return to those rates of infections and deaths thanks to the vaccination effort.

The current number of cases per 100,000 people in our area is 29 for the latest week March 12 to 18, while the average area in England had 42.

There were 36 cases reported for the same week, which is 14 fewer than the previous week

So far 37,768 in Welwyn Hatfield have had their first dose of the vaccine, up to March 14, with 28 million people in total across the entire UK.

On March 20 over 750,000 people received a vaccination on the same day.