"No prime minister wants to take such measures" : In a short prerecorded statement from 10 Downing Street in the evening of Monday March 23, Boris Johnson finally announced a containment of the British population, to avoid arriving at the Italian situation, "Save lives and protect our NHS (national health service) ", insisted the Prime Minister.
So far, the government has been content with non-mandatory instructions: it has been advising for a week to the British to limit their trips as much as possible and to respect a social distancing which not many took into account last weekend, preferring enjoy a beautiful spring sun in London's parks or on the beaches of Devon. With the epidemic now growing exponentially (335 dead on Monday, 46 more than the day before), Johnson had little choice.
Non-essential stores closed
For the next three weeks, gatherings of more than two people are now prohibited. Pubs, restaurants, theaters and schools have closed in the past two days, but starting Tuesday, March 24, it's the turn of all non-essential stores other than food and pharmacies to close the curtain. "You only have to go out to go to work, to buy food or medicine. You can still exercise but once a day, for example a bike ride or a jog. No more visits to families and friends ”, insisted Boris Johnson.
Libraries and play areas will be closed, weddings suspended, but funerals not. If these instructions are not followed, "The police have the power to impose fines and disperse rallies", added Mr. Johnson. These extraordinary powers are made possible by the adoption, Monday evening, of the emergency law "Covid", allowing to go as far as the compulsory confinement of citizens.
Ten days ago, Boris Johnson, and his scientific advisers, were still betting on collective immunity (from a certain percentage of the infected population, the epidemic slows down). They ended up abandoning this daring but potentially deadly strategy last Monday – it would kill 250,000 people, according to models from Imperial College London. However, since then, Downing Street has hesitated, multiplied the muddled communications, sometimes contradictory, insisting first on the little interest in closing schools and pubs, reversing its decision a few days later for example.
According to British media, the dissension between scientists advising the government and the tensions within the cabinet. And the Prime Minister's reluctance to take custodial measures in a country so attached to "Checks and balances" (checks and balances), the rule of law and its Parliament. "The Prime Minister is extremely reluctant to turn the country into a police state, like other countries have done," considers a source close to Downing Street quoted by the online site Buzzfeed in an article posted last weekend.
The UK is "A land of liberties" said Johnson last Wednesday. "I do not want to come to the measures that we have seen in other countries, It is important that the British can continue to go out and exercise, it is important to maintain this freedom", he insisted again on Sunday March 22.
Monday evening, it was no longer time for criticism of its lack of responsiveness, of this big week lost in the fight against the pandemic, but to the sacred union. "The Prime Minister is right to ask people to stay at home, to protect the NHS and save lives. This is the right response to the coronavirus pandemic, the one we have been asking for, " said Jeremie Corbyn, leader of Labor, the main opposition party to the Johnson government.
