WE CAN DO IT TOGETHER
As death toll jumps to 55, Prime Minister urges nation: • Avoid ‘non-essential contact’ and socialising • 14-day isolation for all if family member has virus • Most at risk should self-isolate for 3 months • Work from home and stop all unnecessary tra
Johnson plunged Britain into an unprecedented national shutdown last night to protect the vulnerable from coronavirus.
On the day the death toll from the outbreak in the UK hit 55, the Prime Minister urged everyone to avoid any “non-essential” contact with others including staying away from pubs, restaurants, theatres and cinemas.
He also called for people to stop any “unnecessary” travel around the country and appealed for everyone who can to work from home.
The “draconian” measures were announced as The Grand National, British horse racing’s biggest race of the calendar, was cancelled.
After speculation the race on April 4 would be run behind closed doors, Aintree cancelled the entire meeting last night. Just hours earlier Mr Johnson warned the number of infections in the UK will double every five or six days unless drastic action is taken.
Officials warned the measures will be in force for a “prolonged period” lasting several months.
Admitting the Government was demanding “a very substantial change in the way that we want people to live their lives”, the Prime Minister said: “I can’t remember anything like it in my lifetime.
“I don’t think there has been anything like it in peacetime.
“We have to accept that it’s a very considerable, psychological behavioural change that we are asking the public, the nation to do.
“But I’ve absolutely no doubt we can do it together.”
Other sweeping measures announced by the Government include calling for all households where anyone has symptoms to quarantine themselves for 14 days.
And from this weekend, those most at risk from dying from the virus, such as people aged over 70 or those with serious health condiBORIS tions, will be told to “shield” themselves from social contact for around 12 weeks. Pregnant women will also be told to shield themselves because of uncertainty over the threat to unborn babies.
Mr Johnson gave the go-ahead to the measures at a meeting of his Cobra emergency committee yesterday after expert warnings the virus is set to spread dramatically.
Figures from NHS England yesterday showed that a further 19 people had died after testing positive for Covid-19, bringing the total number of deaths in England to 53. There had also been one death in Wales and one in Scotland bringing the total number of deaths in the UK to 55.
Officials also confirmed testing for the virus in Britain will widen after the World Health Organisation yesterday urged all countries to ramp up testing programmes.
From Geneva the director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: “We have a simple message to all countries – test, test, test.”
Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty said: “We do intend to continue to scale up testing.
“We will test every suspected case. If they test positive, isolate them and find out who they have been in close contact with up to two days before their symptoms, and test those people too. Every day more tests are being produced to meet the global demand.”
Prof Whitty added that the government was trying to prevent “indirect deaths” – where people die because they cannot get the right medical care.
At the first of his daily ministerial news conferences Mr Johnson warned that confirmed infections are set to rise rapidly.
He said: “It looks as though we’re approaching the fast growth part of the upward curve. Without drastic action cases could double every five or six days.”
Unveiling his measures, the Prime Minister said entire households will now have to go into a fortnight’s isolation even if just one member has a new persistent cough or a high temperature.
He said: “That means that if possible you should not go out even to buy food or essentials, other than for exercise, and in that case at a safe distance from others. If necessary, you should ask for help from others for your daily necessities.
“And if that is not possible, then
you should do what you can to limit your social contact when you leave the house to get supplies.”
He continued: “Now is the time for everyone to stop non-essential contact with others and to stop all unnecessary travel.
“We need people to start working from home where they possibly can and avoid pubs, clubs, theatres and other social venues.”
Mr Johnson said the Government was stopping short of a full legally enforced lockdown.
He said the country was a “mature liberal democracy” where people could be trusted to do the right thing. He said: “As for enforcement, we have the powers if necessary but I don’t believe it will be necessary to use those powers.”
From today, the Government will no longer allow police and paramedics to attend large public events to minimise the pressure on the NHS and other public services.
Mr Johnson insisted the sacrifices would be “worth it”.
“I know that many people – including millions of fit and active people over 70 – may feel, listening to what I have just said, that there is something excessive about these measures. But I believe they are overwhelmingly worth it to slow the spread of the disease, to reduce the peak, to save life, minimise suffering and to give our NHS the chance to cope,” he said.
Mr Johnson also said the advice to people over 70 should extend to MPs and peers in the age group.
He added: “Across this country, people and businesses in my experience are responding with amazing energy and creativity to the challenge we face. I want to thank everybody for the part you are playing and are going to play.”
The Government’s chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance said these latest measures to combat the spread would have a “big effect”.
“This is not a series of small interventions. You would anticipate that this could have a dramatic effect to reduce the peak and to reduce death rates,” he said.
Sir Patrick said the UK is now looking “more like three weeks” behind Italy, the epicentre of the European outbreak of Covid-19.
Tragedy
And he said other measures may be necessary – including school closures – at some point.
The Government experts would not say how long the new measures will stay in force for but warned it would be a “prolonged period”.
Prof Whitty said: “We should not be under any illusions that ‘if we just do this for a couple of weeks that is sufficient’.”
He also said protecting care home residents will be one of “the most challenging things”.
Meanwhile, Mr Johnson and other leaders of the G7 group of nations acknowledged in a conference call that the world was facing a “human tragedy” posing “major risks for the world economy”.