Table 3.

Major difference between the three lockdowns during the first and second waves of COVID-19 in the UK

	The first lockdown	The second lockdown	The third lockdown
Start and end dates	March 23, 2020 to July 7, 2020.	November 5, 2020 to December 2, 2020.	January 5, 2021 to April 12, 2021.
Waves	The first wave.	The second wave.	The second wave.
Whether to spread variants	No variants.	Alpha variant.	Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta variants.
Whether the lockdown was extended	3 weeks extension from April 14, 2020.	No extension.	No extension.
Whether schools were closed	Closed schools, cancelled exams.	No schools were closed.	All schools instruction were closed, only allowed distance learning.
Whether public places were closed	Closed public places.	Government public services and supermarkets were not closed.	Closed public places.
Whether the lockdown was lifted in stages	Gradually lifted the lockdown from May 11, 2020.	Completely lifted the lockdown on December 2, 2020.	Lifted the lockdown in stages from March 29, 2021.