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In Pictures: Now and then – the difference 50 days makes in a locked down land

PA news agency photographers have revisited scenes they photographed at the height of the coronavirus restrictions.

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Pictures taken by PA news agency photographers at noon on Thursday highlight that not much has changed in terms of people away from their homes even after coronavirus lockdown restrictions were eased.

While the rainy weather in many parts of the UK would have discouraged some people, 50 days ago on April 22 it was the lockdown limits of only essential journeys and limited exercise that kept people inside.

Here we revisit some of those scenes:

Coronavirus – Thu Jun 11, 2020
Little Ben, a cast iron miniature clock tower at the intersection of Vauxhall Bridge Road and Victoria Street in London’s Westminster, strikes noon on June 11… (Aaron Chown/PA)
Coronavirus – Wed Apr 22, 2020
…50 days ago on April 22, fewer people were at the busy junction outside Victoria Station to check the time (Aaron Chown/PA)
Coronavirus – Thu Jun 11, 2020
A popular riverside walk alongside the Thames near London’s Tower Bridge is deserted on a rainy Thursday midday… (Yui Mok/PA)
Coronavirus – Wed Apr 22, 2020
…just over seven weeks ago it was the lockdown restrictions rather than the weather keeping the usual crowds at home (Yui Mok/PA)
Coronavirus – Thu Jun 11, 2020
While the M5 looking south towards Devon still seems unusually quite for a weekday… (Ben Birchall/PA)
An almost deserted M5 motorway looking south towards Devon
… it was practically deserted when we last visited (Ben Birchall/PA)
Coronavirus – Thu Jun 11, 2020
Work hasn’t stopped at the Lighthouse Laboratory in Glasgow which has processed more than 200,000 coronavirus swabs… (Andrew Milligan/PA)
Scientists at the Lighthouse Laboratory in Glasgow which analyses coronavirus swabs taken from NHS staff and frontline workers
…50 days ago it was one of the first centres set up to analyse swabs taken from NHS staff and other frontline workers (Andrew Milligan/PA)
Coronavirus – Thu Jun 11, 2020
With city employees still working from home or furloughed, Reuters Square at midday is just as quiet… (Victoria Jones/PA)
A nearly-deserted Reuters Square at midday in Canary Wharf in east London
…as it was in our April photograph (Victoria Jones/PA)
Coronavirus – Thu Jun 11, 2020
Social distancing measures have kept the number of MPs who can sit in the Commons at one time limited, but it was a busier chamber at noon on Thursday during business questions after the Conservatives ended remote voting… (House of Commons/PA)
The chamber of the House of Commons in London as the Speaker calls for the start of Prime Minister's Questions
…50 days ago it was a very different looking Prime Minister’s Questions, with Dominic Raab standing in for Boris Johnson after he became seriously ill with Covid-19 (House of Commons/PA)
Coronavirus – Thu Jun 11, 2020
Without the usual throngs of students and tourists, King’s Parade in Cambridge is still an eerie scene… (Joe Giddens/PA)
King’s Parade - with King’s College (left) and the Senate House in the distance - in Cambridge
… on April 22 when the English lockdown measures were even tighter, blue skies were no temptation to be out and about (Joe Giddens/PA)
Coronavirus – Thu Jun 11, 2020
The easing of lockdown restrictions has encouraged more people back to commute once more, but the concourse of London’s Waterloo station was hardly bustling at noon… (Dominic Lipinski/PA)
Coronavirus – Wed Apr 22, 2020
…although still busier than on April 22 (Jonathan Brady/PA)
A deserted Liverpool waterfront
The weather seems to have made no difference…
Coronavirus – Thu Jun 11, 2020
…to the popularity of Liverpool waterfront (Peter Byrne/PA)
Coronavirus – Thu Jun 11, 2020
In Newcastle the roads were notably busier… (Owen Humphreys/PA)
Empty streets in Newcastle upon Tyne
…with traffic, rather than pedestrians(Owen Humphreys/PA)
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