A DOCTOR in York has reflected on when the UK's first two cases of Covid-19 were recorded in York two years ago today.

Dr David Fair, of the Jorvik Medical Practice, has looked back at the "frustrating" time as the health service in England became worried it would be engulfed by the virus - as the same had happened in Italy two weeks earlier.

Dr Fair said: "We didn't know how transmissible the virus was nor how to tell it apart from a flu virus. We were all scared just as much as the general population.

"We were frustrated by the Government's inability to get PPE where it was needed and the politicians inability to understand and communicate scientific concepts."

David said at the time he thought it would take two to three years to develop a vaccine, by which time he thought the population and the economy would be "decimated."

"A vaccine was developed at amazing speed which lifted all our hopes. Now, it feels like most people are no longer scared of Covid. We have a positive scientific legacy with the understanding about vaccine development. But, unfortunately, the lessons we could have learnt about preserving a greener environment have been lost," he added.