The UK first went into national COVID lockdown on the evening of 23 March 2020, with the legal measures coming into force on 26 March 2020.

Quick Scoop: Key Dates

  • 23 March 2020: Then–Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the first nationwide “stay at home” lockdown across the UK.
  • 26 March 2020: The legal regulations underpinning the lockdown came into force in England (similar timings applied via devolved rules in the other nations).
  • 23 March has since often been marked in UK media as the “lockdown anniversary.”

So, when people ask “when did the UK go into lockdown for COVID?”, they almost always mean 23 March 2020, the date of the televised address and start of the first national lockdown.

“Stay at home. Protect the NHS. Save lives.” — the core message of that 23 March 2020 announcement.

TL;DR: The UK went into its first COVID lockdown on 23 March 2020, with the legal rules taking effect from 26 March 2020.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.