U.K. consumer confidence plummeted in the last two weeks of March in the biggest drop ever recorded as the nation entered a state of lockdown in an attempt to slow the rapid spread of the coronavirus.

An index of consumer confidence gathered by market research firm GfK fell by 25 points to minus 34. It was the index's lowest reading since February 2009 and the biggest single drop in the index's history, which stretches back as far as 1974.