Must Read UK PM Johnson orders Britons: you must stay at home

[webfact]

UK PM Johnson orders Britons: you must stay at home

By William James and Andy Bruce

 

A family watches British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's press conference as the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Britain March 23, 2020. REUTERS/Carl Recine

 

LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Boris Johnson ordered Britons to stay at home to halt the spread of coronavirus, imposing curbs on everyday life without precedent in peacetime.

 

All but essential shops will close and people should no longer meet family or friends or risk being fined, Johnson said on Monday in a televised address to the nation.

 

Johnson had resisted pressure to impose a full lockdown even as other European countries had done so, but was forced to change tack as projections showed the health system could become overwhelmed.

 

Deaths from the virus in Britain jumped 54 to 335 on Monday as the government said the military would help ship millions of items of personal protective equipment (PPE) including masks to healthcare workers who have complained of shortages.

 

"From this evening I must give the British people a very simple instruction - you must stay at home," Johnson said in a televised address, replacing his daily news conference.

 

They would only be allowed to leave their homes to shop for basic necessities, exercise, for a medical need, to provide care or travelling to and from work where absolutely necessary.

 

"That’s all - these are the only reasons you should leave your home," he said, adding that people should not meet friends or family members who do not live in their home.

 

"If you don’t follow the rules, the police will have the powers to enforce them, including through fines and dispersing gatherings," he warned.

 

The new measures would be reviewed in three weeks, and relaxed if possible.

 

The British Retail Consortium said shop owners understood the gravity of the situation, while former health secretary Jeremy Hunt said Johnson's decisions were "absolutely right".

 

The government will close all shops selling non-essential goods, Johnson said, including clothing stores, as well as other premises including libraries, playgrounds and outdoor gyms, and places of worship.

 

The tougher tone followed evidence at the weekend that many were ignoring official guidelines about social distancing as they flocked to parks and beauty spots.

 

Under the new measures, the government will stop all gatherings of more than two people in public who do not live together, and stop all social events, including weddings and baptisms but not funerals.

 

Parks would remain open for exercise but gatherings would be dispersed, Johnson said.

 

Later on Monday, Britain's lower house of parliament is expected to approve emergency legislation giving authorities sweeping powers to tackle the outbreak, including the right to detain people and put them in isolation to protect public health.

 

"Without a huge national effort to halt the growth of this virus, there will come a moment when no health service in the world could possibly cope; because there won’t be enough ventilators, enough intensive care beds, enough doctors and nurses," Johnson said in his address.

 

Earlier, in a letter pleading with him to increase PPE supplies, more than 6,000 frontline doctors warned they felt like "cannon fodder" and were being asked to put their lives at risk with out-of-date masks, and low stocks of equipment.

 

Health Secretary Matt Hancock admitted there had been issues but promised action was being taken. He said the army would drive trucks throughout the day and night to get supplies to medical staff.

 

"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 supplies 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 crisis.

 

(Reporting by Kate Holton, Sarah Young, Costas Pitas, David Milliken, Elizabeth Howcroft, Alistair Smout and Andrew MacAskill; Writing by Michael Holden and Kylie MacLellan; Editing by Stephen Addison)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-03-24

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[Davo369]

[sandrabbit]

the public didn't listen and they were warned. for me the army should be on the streets of London and major cities and all those carrying out scooter attacks etc it should be a shoot to kill policy now. if not the scum will take advantage.

[Justgrazing]

13 minutes ago, webfact said:

LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Boris Johnson ordered Britons to stay at home to halt the spread of coronavirus, imposing curbs on everyday life without precedent in peacetime

This should have been last week because too many folk were out and about swamping the parks and resorts over the weekend with the " can't happen to me " mentality so Johnson had little option but to do this and hopefully prevent it from running out of control .. 

[ukrules]

About time, will happen here as well.

 

It's just a matter of when it will happen.

[overherebc]

I just hope the almost brain dead will let their few brain cells meet up for a minute or two and listen.

Everyone knows it cannot be 'stopped' spreading but it can be slowed down to give all the medics a fighting chance.

The biggest problem is going to be controlling the 'must buy everything now' dipsh-ts so supermarkets should now start one or two item limits.

[Kadilo]

It’s the only way now. 
 

Needs to happen here too, a series of clear easy to follow steps and then Police it. No point just keep saying practice good “social distancing”, the Thais ain’t got a clue what it means and evidence shows it. They need to get serious and quick. 

[overherebc]

11 minutes ago, Kadilo said:

It’s the only way now. 
 

Needs to happen here too, a series of clear easy to follow steps and then Police it. No point just keep saying practice good “social distancing”, the Thais ain’t got a clue what it means and evidence shows it. They need to get serious and quick. 

Sad but true. 

[RichardColeman]

Unless they severely ration goods, this will not work. How many times will someone have to walk a KM to the shop to see if they have a bread, meat, vegtable or fish delivery and endanger themselves ? All that is going to happen now is a huge emptying of the shelves as the rich buy everything at the expense of the poor. Or ration everybody to 10 items only

[Chomper Higgot]

5 minutes ago, RichardColeman said:

Unless they severely ration goods, this will not work. How many times will someone have to walk a KM to the shop to see if they have a bread, meat, vegtable or fish delivery and endanger themselves ? All that is going to happen now is a huge emptying of the shelves as the rich buy everything at the expense of the poor. Or ration everybody to 10 items only

Exactly.

 

People need to eat. 

 

Cummings needs to tell Johnson to enact food rationing and the food ration stamps should have a time period during which they are valid in order to prevent mobbing at supermarkets.  

[sammieuk1]

The panic buyers were right now those of us stranded here isolated and rapidly running broke and have only a bicycle to do shopping on are in a world of <deleted>????

[marko kok prong]

Having seen the speech i really think Boris missed his Churchill moment;

" we will fight it in the pubs,we will fight it in the resturants,we will fight it in the gym,s,the lesiure centre's, we will fight in the parks,we will fight it in the high streets,and we shall never surrender"

[dunroaming]

8 hours ago, overherebc said:

I just hope the almost brain dead will let their few brain cells meet up for a minute or two and listen.

Everyone knows it cannot be 'stopped' spreading but it can be slowed down to give all the medics a fighting chance.

The biggest problem is going to be controlling the 'must buy everything now' dipsh-ts so supermarkets should now start one or two item limits.

The panic buying at supermarkets seems to have pretty much stopped now.  The parks were crammed full of people at the weekend and that was just plain stupid.  However it was Mother's Day and for once the sun was shining and I think that people knew this shut down was imminent. My local park (Bushey Park) has closed the roads running through it which effectively means that the car parks are inaccessible.  So just visitors on foot for now.  

 

It's still not clear who can and can't go to work and what businesses are allowed to open.  More clarity is needed.

[Krataiboy]

11 hours ago, ukrules said:

About time, will happen here as well.

 

It's just a matter of when it will happen.

Thursday, by all accounts.