Areas covered by the act included the National Health Service, social care, schools, police, Border Force, local councils, funerals and courts.

Conservative MP and former Brexit Secretary David Davis tabled an amendment on 21 March to restrict the time limit of the bill to a "brick-wall stop" of one year, threatening a backbench rebellion.

[13] The provisions of the Coronavirus Act enabled the government to restrict or prohibit public gatherings, control or suspend public transport, order businesses such as shops and restaurants to close, temporarily detain people suspected of COVID-19 infection, suspend the operation of ports and airports, temporarily close educational institutions and childcare premises, enrol medical students and retired healthcare workers in the health services, relax regulations to ease the burden on healthcare services, and assume control of death management in particular local areas.

It included the power to halt the eviction of tenants, protect emergency volunteers from becoming unemployed, and provide special insurance cover for healthcare staff taking on additional responsibilities.

[4] The act was later amended to make it subject to parliamentary renewal every six months;[11] originally, it was to have been returned to Parliament for debate one year after its enactment.

[26] As part of the one-year review in March 2021, the government stated its intention to revoke twelve sections of the act and suspend three provisions.

Five provisions were amended by SI 2022/362 to expire six months later;[32] these concern procedures for coroners' inquests (section 30), remote court hearings (53–55) and the waiting period before payment of Statutory Sick Pay in Northern Ireland (43).

[33] BBC News reported on 19 March 2020 that there was general agreement in Parliament on the measures contained in the act, but some MPs had raised criticisms of their extended duration.

[19] Conservative backbencher Steve Baker reluctantly supported the bill but said that it was ushering in a "dystopian society" and urged the government not to allow the measures to continue "one moment longer" than necessary.