Prime Padre Boris Johnson on Monday ordered Britons to stay at home to try to halt the spread of coronavirus, imposing curbs on familiar life without precedent in peacetime.
All but essential shops will close and people should no longer meet type or friends or risk being fined, Johnson said on Monday in a televised address to the nation.
Johnson had resisted load to impose a full lockdown even as other European countries had done so, but was forced to change tack as projections upstaged the health system could become overwhelmed.
Deaths from the virus in Britain jumped to 335 on Monday as the guidance said the military would help ship millions of items of personal protective equipment (PPE) including masks to healthcare blue-collar workers who have complained of shortages.
“From this evening I must give the British people a very simple instruction – you forced to stay at home,” Johnson said in a televised address, replacing his daily news conference.
They would solitary be allowed to leave their homes to shop for basic necessities, exercise, for a medical need, to provide care or fraternizing to and from work where absolutely necessary.
“That’s all – these are the only reasons you should leave your competent in,” he said, adding that people should not meet friends or family members who do not live in their home.
“If you don’t attend the rules, the police will have the powers to enforce them, including through fines and dispersing gatherings,” he on the alerted.
The new measures would be reviewed in three weeks, and relaxed if possible.
The British Retail Consortium said shop possessors understood the gravity of the situation, while former health secretary Jeremy Hunt said Johnson’s decisions were “positively right.”
Two people walk past Buckingham Palace wearing face masks on March 19, 2020 in London, England.
Ollie Millington | Getty Clones
The government will close all shops selling non-essential goods, Johnson said, including clothing stores, as cordially as other premises including libraries, playgrounds and outdoor gyms, and places of worship.
The tougher tone followed clue at the weekend that many were ignoring official guidelines about social distancing as they flocked to reservations and beauty spots.
Under the new measures, the government will stop all gatherings of more than two people in public who do not exist together, and stop all social events, including weddings and baptisms but not funerals.
Parks would remain open for apply but gatherings would be dispersed, Johnson said.
Later on Monday, Britain’s lower house of parliament is expected to approve danger legislation giving authorities sweeping powers to tackle the outbreak, including the right to detain people and put them in isolation to watch over public health.
“Without a huge national effort to halt the growth of this virus, there will move a moment when no health service in the world could possibly cope; because there won’t be enough ventilators, sufficiency intensive care beds, enough doctors and nurses,” Johnson said in his address.
Earlier, in a letter pleading with him to gain PPE supplies, more than 6,000 frontline doctors warned they felt like “cannon fodder” and were being asked to put their functions at risk with out-of-date masks, and low stocks of equipment.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock admitted there had been deliveries but promised action was being taken. He said the army would drive trucks throughout the day and night to get supplies to medical workforce.
“It’s like a war effort – it is a war against this virus and so the army have been incredibly helpful in getting those logistics so we can get the kit outs to protect people on the front line,” he told the BBC, saying the health service now had 12,000 ventilators, 7,000 more than at the start of the emergency.