Critical Analysis of UK Government's COVID-19 Communication Strategy

This report provides a critical analysis of the UK government's communication strategies during the COVID-19 crisis. It examines the initial response, the use of social media, and the implementation of lockdown measures, and the government's use of the Shannon Weaver model. The report also explores the challenges of communicating during an unprecedented crisis, including the risk of an "infodemic." It investigates the role of media dependency and the importance of clear and consistent messaging. Furthermore, the report analyzes areas where the government's communication could have been improved, such as increasing testing and ensuring the availability of medical resources. The report concludes by emphasizing the need for precise and evidence-based communication strategies to manage future crises effectively. The report also focuses on the Aarogya Setu app and the communication related to it.

Critically analyse how
the government is
handling
communication during
the COVID - 19
Crisis ? Could the have
done better ?

Table of Contents
Executive summary..........................................................................................................................3
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................4
Background......................................................................................................................................4
Theme 1...........................................................................................................................................4
First steps on communicating with public..............................................................................4
Theme 2...........................................................................................................................................6
Theme 3...........................................................................................................................................7
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................7
Recommendation.............................................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................11

Executive summary
Communication is a very key factor that can impact a particular situation in both negative
and positive manner. With the outbreak of COVID virus there was a need of some tools that can
assist in dealing with the situation of pandemic by handling it in strategic manner. There could
have been use of effective social Media applications for the purpose of empowering people with
the right information as overabundance of information can also lead to situations of
“infodemic”. There can be use of social media applications in order to manage the situation of
pandemic.

Critical analysis of the way government is handling communication during COVID 19 crisis?
Could they have done better? If so how?
INTRODUCTION
Covid 19 virus started in Wuhan china and it spread to Europe in a time period of less
than tow weeks and Italy was first country (Branicki, 2020). This disease mostly spread by
droplets that lead to infection of individuals in form of sneezes, coughs and exhales. Present
report is based on the way government handled this situation of COVID virus and the way it
could have been done in a more better manner.
Background
Theme 1
First steps on communicating with public
Communication plays a key role in implementation of key role in implementation of
personal protection measures for COVID 19 virus. In case of such unprecedented criss & the
emergent the type of communication is a key challenge for the whole community (Bodellini and
Lintner, 2020). In china the community is in front line of the local government the responsibility
of communication COVIDE-19 information to the residents.
Media dependency:
Media system dependency theory is considering that media offers content to audiences in
different forms for meeting their need for entertainment, information and social activities.
Individuals also tend to depend on media for fulfilling their communication needs. Studies reveal
that generally people show dependence and reliance on mass media for information under some
prevailing conditions & the motivational factors that are affecting the alternative sources of
information (Lai and Wong, 2020). During the covid pandemic there was a situation of complete
lock down everyone had to stay home and people relied heavily on social media for the purpose
of information as they shifted from traditional media usage to MSM. Government also supported
the means of social media so that people can stay connected with each other and all the
information is easily based on to the required area in limited time period. The major motive
behind high involvement was that the communication via social media is not just because of the
media content but also because of cognitive and affective motivations. It promoted a two way

communication scenario. As people were able to give response by comments and relaying on
thumb up or forwarding.
Starting of coronavirus
According to view points of Roy M Anderson, 2020 the response of UK government
funding the COVID 19 pandemic reached at end its first phase. There are some of the
opportunities that have to be deal with challenges and opportunities of this virus. The challenges
includes the development of need of high expertise as UK government body. Government
launched their action plan on 3 march 2020 where there were four stages that included contain,
delay, mitigate and research (Jiang, and Wen, 2020). On 12 march 2020 UK moved from the
delay phase of plan and there was raising of risk level to high. Further on 16 march 2020
Johnson announced some of the social distancing measures that included working from home
and avoiding of social gatherings and household isolation for such symptoms. Social distancing
measures were announced on 18 march 2020 that included closing own of all the schools in UK
except those of vulnerable children, key workers and pharmacists, social care, teachers, delivery
drivers, other places included restaurant, pubs, leisure centres, night clubs, theatres, cinemas,
museums and other type of business.
According to view points of Kristoffer stewart, Julia Robinson & Dawn connelly, 2021
There was a strict lock-down that was started in march 2020 from 23rd march onwards where
people were told to stay gone except to buy essential medicines or food, one form of exercise,
medical need, travelling to & from essential work, gathering of more than two people was not
allowed. Further relaxation of lock-down was announced by Johnson on 10 may 2020. for which
the government published a 60 page recovery strategy on 11 may 2020 that sets out the next
phases of UK responses to virus that included some of the ease to social restrictions and people
getting back to work by reopening of schools. Local Lock-downs were started at the June 2020
for the purpose of controlling the spread of virus in particular regions of England but some cases
continued top rise & a second national lock down was impose from 5 November 2020 for a time
period of 4 weeks (Sharifi, and Khavarian-Garmsir, 2020). There has been efforts to developed a
three tier system of restriction to be followed in national lock-down in England. In Scotland,
there was a five tier alert system that was introduced on 2 November which allowed different
restrictions to be imposed in local areas depending on the prevalent of infection. Further a five

break down came in force in Wales from October 20, 2020 and was prevailing toll 9 November
2020 (Everything you should know about the coronavirus outbreak, 2020).
The PSNC announced on march 31, 2020 that community pharmacies in England will be
provided with cash advances of 300 million pounds for a time period of next two months to
assist the cash flow during this pandemic but there has been no extra funding that is provided.
Further there have been advances of funding ranging from 50 million pounds and 20 million
pounds at end of may & June 2020 as announced by PSNC (Kang, Diao and Zanini, 2020).
Theme 2
Plan of UK government
United Kingdom government responds Covid-19 in various ways and their main
responsibility is to secure public health. When the crises reaches height then government
implements lockdown in order to help the peoples. During that it become to difficult to
communicate with people and in that situation they uses a model of communication shannon
weaver model that was designed to mirror functioning of radio and telephone technology
(Kaiser, Mirmira and Stewart, 2020). As lockdown was implement so it is not possible to meet
with the peoples and there are only some tool by which communication will be carried to the
people of nation. In which best mode was TV, telephone and radio and the shannon model is also
based on these modes. Initial it consist four stages sender, message, channel and receiver and
sender was part of mode in which person speaks into (Botan, 2017). Through this they will
effectively able to mange communication with peoples and protect them from fake news.
Selection of right communication strategy & leveraging technology is an important strategy to
deal with the covid-19 and that is effectively selected by government as they was effectively
managed the situation (Filimonau, Derqui and Matute, 2020).
Another key feature of compunction in covid-19 campaign is ability to make sure
adherence to lock down regulations which are amongst the strictest in the world and contributing
highly in limiting the spread of pandemic and bringing down the rate of doubling of cases and
that is important for flattening the curve. In this launching of Aarogya Setu app is an important
part of Covid-19 campaign. In this it is important to communicating like what app does, why it is
required and how privacy is built into app by design. So these are some example of
communication that is used by the government of UK. Also UK is presently experiences a
second wave of SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and the England is one which beings second national

lock down. In which SAGES urged to UK government for resetting their communication
strategies for fostering clarity that are needed for peoples to understand precisely what to do.
Precise message is more understandable and enables adherences along with consistent behaviour
enactment. Imprecise inconsistent contradictory, unlimitedly or vague messages leads to creation
of mistake, frustration and non adherences. In context of UK government they are messaging
and seek to public supports towards rules, guidelines and laws the mitigates the problems and
help them from this crises (Covid-19, The UK Government’s Communications Own Goal,
2021). In relevance to this, there are main five principles that could become effective during
communication with peoples are:
 Messaging never merely provides factual information so communication unavoidably
coveys assumptions ( subtexts, indirect meanings, inferences and implications).
 Message should be lexically & grammatically precise and thus easy to enact & adhere to.
 Message need to be irony resistant.
 Branding or sloganeering need not come at the expenses of clarity & precision.
 Message need to be underpinned by evidences about what is effective.
All these are considered as effective principles of communication during Covid-19.
Theme 3
What could have been done better
It is analysed that Covid 19 is global pandemic that has been affected economies of
several countries. The outbreak has major impact on business and overall economy of different
nation. It has bring deep recession within countries where people are loosing job and do not have
enough money to survive (Day, 2020). In addition, there are several measures has been taken by
governments of various nations so that transmission of virus can be controlled effectively.
Higher authorities of UK developed several laboratories across the country in order to undertake
testing and provide results to patients on timely basis so that necessary precautions can be taken.
Further, there are different labs have been opened in different cities of country. It is monitored
that UK was worst hit with coronavirus as higher number of cases and deaths were recorded in
nation.
However, government has taken several steps to control the situation by setting labs and
provide proper medical treatment. But there situation can be handles in more better manner by
taking some precautionary steps. For this, government can take initiative to execute as much

testing as possible. They need to provide the facilities of laboratories to individuals at their
nearby places. In addition, they are required to encourage more and more people to undertake
testing voluntarily and to go for self quarantine. In addition, there should be strict prohibition on
international flights (Berman and Ebisu, 2020). So, they can save more people to get infected
with virus. Further, higher authorities make such kind of arrangements that people get things of
daily requirement and necessities at their own place so that they can avoid personal contact.
Here, higher rates of deaths and cases were recorded in UK due to unavailability of
proper medical equipment. With the availability of appropriate and required number of medical
resources they could prevent the situation in turning worst. For this, higher authorities of nation
were required to import effective medical resources from other countries. In addition, they need
to develop suitable online platforms for education as well as purchasing necessary products and
services. During pandemic, there were strict lock down and people were not allowed to step out
from their places so it is essential to ensure the availability of effective online platforms in order
to fulfil the basic requirements. In addition, there are several people who are not capable enough
to execute testing so government need to take care of those people by making necessary
arrangements. Therefore, higher authorities of UK has taken several initiatives to handle the
situation of coronavirus in better manner but still there are some improvements could be done in
order to minimize the negative impact of Pandemic. They could improve testing facilities,
medical facilities to control transmission of virus. In addition, situation can be handled in better
manner by spreading awareness within people of country. It helps to control the impact of covid
19 over the economy of UK.
Differences between other countries
Covid 19 is a global problem that has been influenced several countries across the globe.
The impact on different countries is also differ in terms of death ratio, economic impact and
more (Yao, Chen and Xu, 2020). There are some nations who are badly hit with pandemic such
as UK, US, brazil and more. It is analysed that there are several deaths have been recorded in
Italy due to covid 19. In addition, it has put tremendous adverse impact on travel, financial
market, employment opportunities within country. Higher authorities of UK formulated ample of
rules, regulations such as social distancing norms and more that need to follow by citizens in
prescribed manner. In addition food suppliers of country determine to have sufficient stock of
food and beverages to handle the situation of panic buying. Some supermarkets of nation start to

give priority to old age customers for online delivery. In addition, financial institutions also
provide necessary support to business units. Here, government also use different mediums such
as social medial platforms, newspaper, media to provide necessary updates to citizens.
In south Korea, they have stated testing at very early phase in the first weak of February
with open public testing. They also followed contact tracing to detect confirmed cases. With this,
they were able to manage the situation in better manner. There were peak of outbreak in country
in March that is a good sign for economy. Here, government of south ,Korea has passed new
medical law in which strict norms were included to prevent international travelling and export of
mask and other items from country.
In addition, United state is also highly affected with the pandemic condition as several
people loose their jobs and are not able to earn sufficient money to meet with basic requirements.
The rate of unemployment with country has been raised up to 14. 7 % during pandemic
(Armocida and et.al., 2020). For this, there are several measures have been taken by the
government of country that is crucial to manage the situation in better manner. Here, airlines of
US prohibited international flights and adopt several measures of social distancing, sanitization
and more to control the spread of Covid 19 within country.
It is analysed that different countries are adopting different measures in order to prevent
the spread of Covid 19. In addition, there are different impact has been analysed of coronavirus
over different countries (Tuite and et. al., 2020). However, it influenced all the countries across
the world in adverse manner but there are some nations such as UK, US and more that are highly
affected with the outbreak. In addition, higher authorities of various nations adopted measures
such as enhancement in testing, prevention on international fights and more. In addition, some
countries are taking some initiatives such as financial assistance, medical services for individuals
in order to deal with current outbreak. They are providing effective medical services, support nad
assistance to patients in order to maintain lower mortality rate.
Conclusion
Recommendation
Healthy and effective communication is very crucial especially in case of public health &
medical communities to deal with the spared of coronavirus disease. There were development of

health related concepts by the government that included social distancing and strict lock-down
measures. But one thing that lead to establishment of connections between people includes
different communication measures that could have resulted into better management of such
situation of crisis. From the above mentioned some of the approaches there are some of the
recommendations that can be drawn:
 Government could have used some other better means of communicating with the general
public that included the means to release some journals or online links where people can
easily access and then use such means to reduce the panic situation. There can be used of
verbal, electronic or written form of communication (Nathanial and Van Heyden,
2020).
 Responsible communication is about sending the communication but also developing
some measures to deal with the two way communication with general public.
Government can work on developing some helpline numbers or online platforms where
people are able to register their complaints or issues they are facing. Then further these
issues can be worked on in order to manage the queries of general public in a more
responsible manner.
 Communication was a major responsibility of the organisations also. So there was a need
to ensure corporate communication that is sent responsible to all the associated
stakeholders on case of important communications that had to be made regarding some
sort of information sharing (Castro and Zermeño, 2020)..
 Social media has played one of the most crucial roles in the situation for connecting
people with each other so that they are able to responsibly react to the changing situation
of external environment. Government is recommended to create a social media page as
people especially the millennials are more active ons such social media platforms so they
can easily connect with each other on such platforms.
 The challenges of communications were enhancing in this pandemic environment. So
there is a need to make a evaluation of the open lines of communication and further
implementation of best communication practises that can lead towards organisation of
communication in a more responsible manner. The major issues that most of the people
were facing was that they had several complaints and issues regarding the way work was
being managed at the time of pandemic but they were not able to communicate

effectively to government so there was a need to ensure that all suggestions and
feedbacks are timely heard by the concerned authorities (Communication During a
Pandemic, 2020).
 The most important factor that could have lead to prevent the spread of COVID 19 virus
is to empower people with correct and factful information. In the ear of pandemic there is
prevalence of lot of false information. So there was a need to create a dedicated
integrated COVID 19 portal, state wise or national wise helpline number, authentic email
ID, government social hub, whatsapp, Facebook, twitter, Instagram, you tube are some of
the social media applications that could gave been used to reach out to maximum people
by providing to them with the right information at right time.

CONCLUSION
It can be concluded from the above discussed information that there are many challenges
that are arising at the time of pandemic there is need to make evaluation of the way different
strategies can be formed to deal with the negative impact of non effective communication.
Government has to make efforts to ensure that communication is taking place in a more proper
manner that is leading towards management of people and the way they are utilising the
opportunity to make effective communication.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Branicki, L.J., 2020. COVID‐19, ethics of care and feminist crisis management. Gender, Work
& Organization, 27(5), pp.872-883.
Lai, I.K.W. and Wong, J.W.C., 2020. Comparing crisis management practices in the hotel
industry between initial and pandemic stages of COVID-19. International Journal of
Contemporary Hospitality Management.
Jiang, Y. and Wen, J., 2020. Effects of COVID-19 on hotel marketing and management: a
perspective article. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management.
Sharifi, A. and Khavarian-Garmsir, A.R., 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic: Impacts on cities and
major lessons for urban planning, design, and management. Science of the Total
Environment, p.142391.
Kang, J., Diao, Z. and Zanini, M.T., 2020. Business-to-business marketing responses to COVID-
19 crisis: a business process perspective. Marketing Intelligence & Planning.
Kaiser, U.B., Mirmira, R.G. and Stewart, P.M., 2020. Our response to COVID-19 as
endocrinologists and diabetologists.
Nathanial, P. and Van der Heyden, L., 2020. Crisis Management: Framework and Principles
with Applications to CoVid-19.
Filimonau, V., Derqui, B. and Matute, J., 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic and organisational
commitment of senior hotel managers. International Journal of Hospitality
Management, 91, p.102659.
Bodellini, M. and Lintner, P., 2020. The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Credit
Institutions and the Importance of Effective Bank Crisis Management Regimes. Law and
Economics Yearly Review.
Castro, M.P. and Zermeño, M.G.G., 2020. Being an entrepreneur post-COVID-19–resilience in
times of crisis: a systematic literature review. Journal of Entrepreneurship in Emerging
Economies.
Armocida, B., Formenti, B., Ussai, S., Palestra, F. and Missoni, E., 2020. The Italian health
system and the COVID-19 challenge. The Lancet Public Health, 5(5), p.e253.
Berman, J.D. and Ebisu, K., 2020. Changes in US air pollution during the COVID-19
pandemic. Science of the Total Environment, 739, p.139864.
Day, M., 2020. Covid-19: ibuprofen should not be used for managing symptoms, say doctors and
scientists.`
Tuite, A.R., Ng, V., Rees, E. and Fisman, D., 2020. Estimation of COVID-19 outbreak size in
Italy. The Lancet. Infectious Diseases, 20(5), p.537.
Yao, H., Chen, J.H. and Xu, Y.F., 2020. Patients with mental health disorders in the COVID-19
epidemic. The Lancet Psychiatry, 7(4), p.e21.
Online

UK Response to COVID-19: Urgent Need for An Inclusive Transparent Decision Making
Process, 2020, [Online], Available through, <https://www.cgdev.org/blog/uk-response-
covid-19-urgent-need-inclusive-transparent-decision-making-process />
Everything you should know about the coronavirus outbreak, 2020[online], Available
through<https://www.pharmaceutical-journal.com/news-and-analysis/features/everything-you-
should-know-about-the-coronavirus-outbreak/20207629.article?firstPass=false>
Communication During a Pandemic, 2020[online], Available
through<https://www.raps.org/news-and-articles/news-articles/2020/4/communication-during-a-
pandemic>