Bereaved families and communities came together in a day of reflection on Sunday to mark five years since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Towns and cities across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland hosted hundreds of events to remember those who died and also pay tribute to frontline health and social care workers, volunteers and researchers on the annual Covid Day of Reflection.

Just under 227,000 people died in the UK with Covid-19 listed as one of the causes on their death certificate.

In London, bereaved relatives, led by a Highland piper, joined well wishers to walk beside the national Covid memorial wall.

They passed 3,000 photographs of the faces of some of those who died.

The event was ended with a song from a choir and a salute on the river from the London fire brigade fireboat.

A minute’s silence was held after the chimes of Big Ben and long-stemmed red carnations were cast into the River Thames.

The prime minister, Keir Starmer, said: “As we mark five years since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, I know for many there is deep grief and loss that may never be relieved.

“Today, we come together to remember, reflect and pay tribute to the sacrifices made by people across our country.”

The annual Covid Day of Reflection was one of the recommendations set out by the UK Commission on Covid Commemoration, which counts with King’s College hospital nurse Felicia Kwaku as a commissioner.

Kwaku said: “I remember comforting and consoling many, many loved ones and patients.

“Some patients knew that they were going to pass and some patients didn’t. I remember many of us not stopping crying for at least two to three years.”

The first coronavirus case was recorded in the UK on 31 January 2020.

Boris Johnson, the prime minister at the time, announced the first UK-wide coronavirus lockdown on 23 March 2020, with restrictions aimed at stopping the spread of the virus.

The writer, poet, broadcaster and former children’s laureate Michael Rosen said it was “an honour” to be part of an event in Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire, where he read a new poem.

Rosen, who was taken to hospital with Covid and put into an induced coma in intensive care for 48 days, said: “A shadow passed over us and hundreds of thousands of people felt the sudden and unexpected loss of loved ones.

He added: “Thanks to the expertise and care I received, I came through, but I look back over my shoulder and think of those who didn’t.”

Soprano Lesley Garrett was among the performers at the event, and the difficult days during the pandemic were recalled in testimonials from NHS staff, patients, volunteers and senior healthcare figures.

Michael Rosen’s poem

“Coughing and coughing, gasping for air.

“Empty streets, no cars anywhere.

“Curry with no flavour. Pizza with no taste.

“Empty days, time to waste.

“Running out of tests and masks.

“What is this zoom thing? Someone asks.

“How many feet are we standing apart?

“A pain in the chest, a pain in the heart.

“Children in their rooms all day?

“Will we ever get away?

“The unprotected driver of the bus.

“Nurses checking, testing us.

“Nurses wearing clinical waste bags.

“People leaving without their name tags.

“Freezing cold, then helplessly hot.

“Blood thinners and blood clots.

“The face we’ll never see again.

“A mind chasing grief and pain.

“The risks you took for working on and on.

“The fatigue and strain have never gone.

“The wards too hot in the June weather.

“Medics in teams working together.

“The endless beeps of drips and machines.

“The news they had invented a vaccine.

“Those we met, the paths we crossed.

“Those who went, those we lost.

“The lives of those who fell or faltered.

“The lives of those forever altered.”