Coronavirus UK Search Lookup
BBC News
BBC News
Visual Journalism Team
Visual Journalism Team
(As of 28 September 2020)
DATA ANALYSIS & DATA JOURNALISM
David Brown, Ben Butcher, Robert Cuffe, Will Dahlgreen, Christine Jeavans, Ed Lowther, Wesley Stephenson, John Walton
David Brown, Ben Butcher, Robert Cuffe, Will Dahlgreen, Christine Jeavans, Ed Lowther, Wesley Stephenson, John Walton
DESIGN
Irene de la Torre Arenas, Joy Roxas
Irene de la Torre Arenas, Joy Roxas
DEVELOPMENT
Adam Allen, Toby Cox, Marcos Gurgel, Katie Hassell, Chloe Skillman, Shilpa Saraf, Evisa Terziu
Adam Allen, Toby Cox, Marcos Gurgel, Katie Hassell, Chloe Skillman, Shilpa Saraf, Evisa Terziu
Like many news outlets, the BBC is also tracking the spread of Coronavirus. Our first interactive answered the leading question we had at the beginning of the pandemic: how many Coronavirus cases are there in my area?
After more than six months, it’s still one of the most asked questions. The page where this interactive is has become the most visited page in the history of BBC News’ website. Every week hundreds of thousands of people use our search lookup. It provides information about the number of Coronavirus cases by Local Authority; deaths related to the virus; or how the pandemic is changing through time.
The first version of the UK Coronavirus Search Lookup gave only information of total cases by area. The user searched their postcode, and the module gave one phrase back. We built it in a matter of three or four days.
First version of the UK Coronavirus Lookup
A few weeks later, the pandemic wasn’t only about the number of cases. It was also about the number of people dying because of it. We redesigned the module to include this information.
Second version, with number of deaths
However, soon after that, we found a better way of representing the impact of the virus through excess deaths. The search lookup changed again to include this information too. As time went by, it became vital to show how the pandemic evolved. And so, we added charts to display how the numbers changed through time.
Third version, with graphics to explain how the pandemic changes through time. We considered including a tooltip, but it wasn’t added at the end
The lookup gets periodically redesigned to include the most useful information to the user.
