When news emerged about the worlds first outbreak of coronavirus in the Chinese city of Wuhan , many in the UK wrongly dismissed it as a health crisis happening elsewhere and were reassured by the governments inaction.

The reality began sinking in with what was then thought to be Britains first Covid-19 death on March 5, 2020: a woman in her 70s at the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading. Weeks later, the UK was plunged into its first coronavirus lockdown on March 23.

Since then, its emerged that at least five other people had died earlier that month . And more recently, data compiled from death certificates has revealed coronavirus deaths that happened in the UK on January 30, February 2 and February 22, 2020.

Peter Attwood, 84, who died on January 30 last year, is thought to have been Britains first fatal Covid victim . Pneumonia and heart failure were initially blamed, but a post mortem report in August confirmed he had died of coronavirus, making him the worlds first victim outside China.

Bereaved families who lost loved ones early on in the pandemic told HuffPost UK the virus was clearly on UK shores a lot earlier than originally thought.

They have criticised the government, saying it reveals how totally unprepared they were, and claim delays will have caused unnecessary deaths.

Jamie Brown, a spokesperson for the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group, said: This points to the total under-estimation of the risk to peoples lives.

There was significant ignorance, denial and arrogance that coronavirus was something happening in China and could not reach or harm us here.

He added that, as a group of islands, the UK should have been better placed than most countries to shut down borders and prevent cases arriving from overseas.

Our government completely ignored the problem which was growing. Its failure to take this crisis seriously right at the start is one of the earliest reasons that led to so many people dying in the UK.

The timeline of events shows on December 31, 2019, a respiratory illness in a cluster of people in Wuhan City was reported to the World Health Organisation (WHO). On January 12, 2020, the WHO confirmed a novel coronavirus was the cause.

The first official UK coronavirus cases were believed to have been two Chinese tourists who were staying in York and treated at hospital in Newcastle on January 31.

On February 28, 2020, a British man was reported as the first UK citizen to die from coronavirus after being infected on the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan.

The first UK Covid-19 death was made public on March 5, 2020 days after Boris Johnson joked about shaking hands with hospital staff in the first Downing Street coronavirus briefing on March 3.

Since then, earlier coronavirus deaths have been recorded, including Attwood, who was admitted to hospital with a mystery cough and fever on January 7 last year.

Tissue samples tested months later showed he had Covid after the coroner was dissatisfied that pneumonia had caused his death.

The Office for National Statistics told HuffPost UK delays for registering deaths on certificates happen for numerous reasons. Some will have been referred to a coroner, others will have an unknown cause of death, and some will have been homeless people.

Some believe there will have been many more UK coronavirus deaths that occurred earlier than official records show, but will be difficult to prove as there was no testing.

Catherine Mayer , author and Womens Equality Party co-founder, firmly believes her husband was one of the early victims of Covid-19.

Andy Gill, the guitarist with band Gang of Four , toured Australia, New Zealand, Japan and China, with the final date being November 23, 2019, before heading home.

Mayer, his partner of 29 years, told HuffPost UK she recalls him sounding breathless when they spoke on the telephone just before his return.

But she says he didnt feel badly ill and resisted going into hospital. Gill didnt realise his oxygen levels were dropping until they became dangerously low.

He was admitted to intensive care in January 2020, but even then doctors felt his prognosis was good.

They said he was the healthiest person in there and would be out in no time, she said. They identified a certain type of pneumonia which was treatable.

But instead of responding to treatment, Gill went downhill. Doctors were trying everything and puzzled by what they were seeing.

Then there was that terrible moment when they put Andy on a ventilator and he never recovered.