People over 70 have been grappling with the possibility that they could face an extended coronavirus lockdown after general restrictions end, filling them with fear and frustration.

Social distancing measures have now been in place for more than five weeks, but many older people followed the lead of Italy and Spain and have been isolating for much longer due to their age and underlying health conditions – causing spiralling loneliness as anxiety rises.

About 1.5 million people in the UK with serious underlying health conditions were told to shield for 12 weeks from 23 March, but many vulnerable older people were not included on the list even though some require much more assistance than they have so far received.

“It is very lonely at times,” said 73-year-old Beth Evans* in Ceredigion, Wales. “l live alone, my husband has dementia and is now in a care home. He no longer knows who I am.”

Getting food has been difficult for Beth, with visits to supermarkets particularly fraught. Photograph: Beth at home in Ceredigion/handout

Although she is physically healthy, Evans has depression and generalised anxiety disorder which makes her life extremely difficult. She has been unable to access deliveries of food from supermarkets or as part of the government’s food packages for the particularly vulnerable so shopping has been a major challenge.

“Getting food has been very difficult,” she said. “The last time I went to a supermarket I had a panic attack. I almost couldn’t get across the car park my heart was pounding so much and I could hardly see. I had to sit in the car for 20 minutes to calm down before driving home.

Q&A What are the UK government's 'five tests' for ending lockdown restrictions? Show In April the UK government set out these five tests it said had to be met before they would consider easing coronavirus lockdown restrictions: The NHS has sufficient capacity to provide critical care and specialist treatment right across the UK

A sustained and consistent fall in daily deaths from Coronavirus

Reliable data to show that the rate of infection is decreasing to manageable levels across the board

Operational challenges including testing and personal protective equipment (PPE) are in hand with supply able to meet future demand

Confident that any adjustments to the current measures will not risk a second peak of infections that overwhelms the NHS

“People just come up to you, not seeming to realise we are supposed to be physical distancing.”

It remains unclear when exactly the lockdown will be eased after it emerged more than 4,300 people in care homes across England and Wales died from Covid-19 in the last fortnight.

However, following suggestions by a health minister in the House of Lords that older people will be told to stay in extended lockdown, some have reacted with horror as rumours circulate, encouraged by the lack of clarity.

“If I were forced to become more isolated and housebound, it would seriously damage my mental health, I already suffer from chronic depression,” said parish councillor and teacher Jennifer* in Rushcliffe, Nottinghamshire.

“A blanket ‘over 70s’ rule is unreasonable for the many people who are basically healthy and carrying out valuable paid and unpaid work. The thing that annoys me is the idea that all over 70s are old and decrepit. I’ve never not worked.”

Beverly Sand in Nottingham – who is also 73 – is also annoyed at the implication that all of their age group are equally vulnerable and echoed the call on the government to take a more nuanced approach.

“I’m getting increasingly angry at the government’s inability to differentiate between those of us over 70 who are fit from others who are unfortunate enough to suffer from serious underlying conditions,” she said.

Beverly prepares to go out for her daily 10km jog. Photograph: Handout

“They shouldn’t lump everybody over 70 together and there needs to be a more nuanced approach. I could outrun most unfit teenagers.”

Others – like 75-year-old Anne* from Keswick in the Lake District – are highly critical of the government for being slow to introduce a lockdown, and to effectively test and trace.

“I would not tolerate any discrimination and will only submit to lockdown while it applies to the general public as a whole,” she said.

“If the government had started testing and tracing from the beginning, which it now realises it has to, we wouldn’t have the problems we’ve got now.”

But other older people remain fearful and intend to shield themselves until a vaccine or an effective treatment is developed.

Ben at home in Radcliffe before the lockdown. Photograph: Ben

“I’m told it could feel like shards of glass in your lungs,” said Ben, 75, from Radcliffe, just outside Manchester. “I plan to continue social distancing until there’s a vaccine, which is daunting.”

He explained that the spread of the virus has made him extremely fearful. “I still go out for a socially distanced walk everyday and yesterday when a dog ran up to me and said, hello, I was too scared to pat them like I usually do. This virus could be anywhere.”

In London, retired graphic designer Sue Lamble, 74 – who has been told to shield herself because of an auto-immune condition that makes her lungs more vulnerable to infection – said she will also distance for the foreseeable future.

“I am afraid of getting the virus because I have this lung condition,” she said. “I would be quite endangered by it; my GP said it would not be automatic death but present greater dangers than for most so I am very careful.”

But she objected to some of the government’s language throughout the crisis and said she felt like “vulnerable over 70s” had been characterised as disposable. “We’re not,” she said. “Me and my friends make a massive contribution, when we can.”

* Some names have been changed