We wandered down to the river last night for our daily walk, primarily to go and see the Covid memorial wall that is being created. Since it was started at the end of March, thousands of hearts have been drawn on a wall along the Southbank – right outside St Thomas’s Hospital and directly opposite the Houses of Parliament.

Organised by the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group, the aim is for this wall to include a heart to represent every Covid victim, with over 130,000 drawn to date. According to the latest government data from 19 March 2021, 149,168 people in the UK are reported to have died from Covid*.

A number of people were there adding hearts to the wall as we walked the length of it. Despite seeing photos online, I didn’t expect it to be so long. At one kilometre, it runs along the south side of the river from Westminster Bridge almost as far as Lambeth Bridge.

I don’t know if this will be a permanent memorial, and I’m sure it won’t be the last one created, but it’s a very fitting and moving tribute to the victims of this pandemic. Lets hope they don’t have to add that many more hearts to the wall as lockdown eases.

You can see more photos of the wall on Flickr, or flick through them below.

* Number of people whose death certificate mentioned Covid-19 as one of the causes.