TODAY marks four years since then-prime minister Boris Johnson addressed the nation and the first Covid lockdown began.

It was an announcement that shook the nation and raised fundamental questions about society, freedom, and responsibility - and its consequences are still being felt today.

The decision was made in March 2020, more than two months after the first reports of a novel coronavirus began to appear out of China, and at a time when there were serious concerns among many in the scientific community about the impact on public health if drastic action was not taken.

"The coronavirus is the biggest threat this nation has faced for decades," Mr Johnson said at the start of his short video announcing the lockdown.

In a message about the 'invisible killer', Mr Johnson said that there were fears the health service would be overwhelmed.

"From this evening I must give the British people a very simple instruction: you must stay at home," he said.

But that first Covid-19 lockdown, and subsequent measures, which were designed to help save lives and the healthcare system, were controversial.  In Cumbria, opinions were - and four years on, remain - just as split on the lockdown.

"Collapsed the economy and helped the biggest wealth transfer in history whilst having no appreciable effect on spread of a manufactured respiratory virus," said News & Star reader Ian Haslam.

Paul Harrison said: "All it did was line the pockets of the rich and make the poor even more poor... whilst at the same time the government used it as a distraction to push through questionable laws whilst no one was watching."

Lockdowns took a huge toll on young people in particular, with the education of millions being disrupted and the mental health of millions more suffering badly.

Rachel Sharp said: "It was very difficult as a mum of four, seeing the effect on my kids, especially as mine were among those locked out of the classroom for six plus months and that long social isolation.

"Info coming out at the [official Covid] inquiry about the severe negative impacts on kids of all ages is not surprising but horrific nonetheless.

"Lockdowns must never happen again."

Anne Dunn said: "My granddaughter Madeline was born the first day of lockdown at West Cumberland Hospital. She had never seen most of her family for months, and only really saw people with masks on."

Some people remember the positives.

"Globally, we were all in this together," remembered Jillian Thompson. "We learned to be more compassionate, more loving, more understanding, more empathetic, more tolerant. We had time for our neighbours.

"It was an extraordinary time."

Steve Armstrong said: "I spent it at home, and I coped very well. I was already thinking of cutting down how much I went out anyway and all it did was accelerate my decision by a few months."

The economic effects are still being felt, both in people's pockets but also in the nation's finances. In December 2019, UK national debt was around £1,892billion, according to the ONS, equivalent to 85.4 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP).

In January this year, excluding the debt of public sector banks, it was £2,647billion, or 96.5 per cent of the UK's GDP.

But the pandemic's health effects are also still being felt. The debilitating condition known as 'long Covid' affects people across the country.

The government's ongoing Covid-19 Inquiry seeks to learn the lessons of the pandemic. Four years on from the first lockdown, it's hoped that the responses of countries across the world to a rapidly-spreading novel virus may prove useful in guiding responses when it happens again.