Clap for Carers, Tiger King & Baking: 15 era-defining moments from Covid lockdown, five years later

It has been five years since Scotland began to shut down in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

On March 19, 2020 the Scottish Government announced that all schools and nurseries were to close their doors, with pubs, restaurants, gyms and more venues around the UK all told to follow suit a day later. But it wasn’t until March 23 that then Prime Minister Boris Johnson addressed the entire UK to announce a total lockdown, telling everyone to “stay at home” with legal restrictions on travel, work and spending time outdoors all put in place.

Lockdown in Scotland commenced on March 24, 2020, with additional measures regarding social distancing and staying at home introduced, many of which would remain for almost two years.

During those early lockdown periods, almost everything about daily life became unrecognisable. From no longer being able to socialise in person to the new daily commute from bed to the couch, it was an unprecedented time in history which led many to seek out alternative forms of entertainment.

Whether it was downloading Zoom and having online pub quizzes or binge-watching Netflix series like Tiger King, people found new ways to cope with reality at that moment in time.

Covid is still here. But five years later, life has returned to normal and the worst days are now behind us. With so much having changed in that time period, here we take a look at some of the defining cultural moments of lockdown.