Boris Johnson Announces UK Shutdown Over Wuhan Coronavirus
Measures give UK officials power to detain people for testing, impose heavy fines.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced nationwide lockdown measures late Friday as British health authorities registered a spike in Wuhan Coronavirus deaths. UK’s National Health Service (NHS) reported 40 Coronavirus related deaths on Friday, the biggest single day jump yet, taking the overall death toll to 177.
The government has ordered the closure of all restaurants, pubs, gyms and other leisure activities across the country, UK media reports said. “Tens of thousands of bars, restaurants, cafes and gyms across the UK have remained closed this morning as the government battles to control the spread of Coronavirus,” UK newspaper The Independent reported on Saturday. Schools and colleges have already been told to close indefinitely.
The Coronavirus Bill, publicized by the government on Friday, gives police and health officials power to detain people for testing and slap a £1,000 fine on anyone refusing to obey. As part of the measures, the government has agreed to pay 80 percent of workers’ wages for those retained by their employees in wake of the shutdown, the UK Finance Ministry announced.
The UK newspaper Daily Telegraph reported the nationwide shutdown:
The coronavirus outbreak has sent the UK into lockdown.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has closed pubs, restaurants, cafes, nightclubs, gyms, theatres, cinemas and schools, and asked members of the public to start working from home “where they possibly can”.
Dozens of stations on the London Underground network have also closed in an attempt to curb the spread of Covid-19 in the capital.
An emergency Coronavirus Bill published on Thursday would give the Government the power to close down premises and stop people entering as well as detain people to be tested for the virus, then force them to isolate for 14 days or face a £1,000 fine.
Where a member of a household has displayed symptoms (see the breakdown below), the Prime Minister said all residents should self-isolate for 14 days.
Prime Minister Johnson remained optimistic ahead of the measure. The UK could “turn the tide of this disease” in next 12 weeks, he assured. The nation could “send Coronavirus packing in this country, but only if we all take the steps we have outlined,” he added.
The UK lockdown comes as the epicenter of the Wuhan virus outbreak shifts to Europe. Italy became the first European country to imposed a nationwide shutdown after witnessing highest cases of the life-threatening disease after China. The country has reported over 4,000 deaths and 47,000 confirmed cases of the virus so far. Rome is expected to carry on with the measures beyond the previously announced date of April 3, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said Thursday.
France has also taken similar steps this week as the outbreak claimed 450 lives.
Spain, too, is considering to extended the nationwide shutdown, initially thought to last only 14 day, after registering more than thousand deaths and over 21,000 cases of the infection. Unlike Johnson, Spanish government appears less optimistic in ‘beating’ the disease. “The worst days are coming,” Salvador Illa, the Spanish health minister, said.
Germany is also moving towards a nationwide shutdown, with several German states announcing measures restricting public movement. “German states move closer to near-total lockdowns,” the public broadcaster DW News confirmed. Berlin is planning to mobilize military reservists to help civilian authorities in dealing with the outbreak, as confirmed cases of virus neared 20,000. With 68 deaths, Germany has among the lowest death rates.
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Comments
The entire world needs to shun China and cripple it economically forever …. we don’t need no steenkin’ egg rolls.
Hey, I like egg rolls and I see no advantage in giving them up because China’s Commie government is a lying sack of !!!
There are dozens of countries with bio-weapons research labs. This sort of thing could just as easily have happened in a number of countries and I dare say they all would likely have tried to cover it up, just like the Chinese have.
We’re lucky that this virus isn’t even more deadly.
None of the other countries have unleashed anything near this nasty, or been caught red handed as is the case here.Everyone in the world needs to get together to make China’s leadership very sorry.
No, other countries would not have behaved as Communist China. People need to stop offering excuses for what is inexcusable behavior. Had they sealed their borders, notified others of the problem, allowed the CDC in when the President offered, and any number of other items, the world would not be facing this crisis. We need to put the blame squarely where it falls–at the feet of Xi.
Are you trying to let the Chinese off the hook because ‘anyone else would have done the same thing?’ Let me ask you this, suppose this virus had first appeared in Mar a Lago Florida, and the government of the US tried to cover it up. It then quickly spread to the rest of the world wreaking untold havoc. Would you be letting the US off the hook. Would you not be calling it the Trump Flu and demanding his arrest for crimes against humanity. You know you would.
This sort of thing could just as easily have happened in a number of countries
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except that it hasn’t–we are not in the middle of a world war–if this was in fact an accident, the chinese are responsible to the entire world for their negligence and, at a minimum, should have made known the ” escape ” or ” release ” of this particular pathogen at once
I hope Johnson cleared this with Brussels first!
;-{)}}}
Texas sorry that was suppose to be an up vote
The heavy hand of government once more squashes the rights of the people. NO government is immune from the urge to force the people to do what it thinks best, no matter how idiotic the idea. There are no shortages of any consumer goods in the US, but the government now has everybody convinced that if they don’t stock up on consumer staples for at least 6 months, they’re going to starve. The result, of course, is that even in the most level-headed parts of the country, hoarding has become “normal” and suddenly the necessities of life are becoming unobtainable luxuries. I hit the grocery store 30 minutes after opening this morning. Necessities like milk, eggs, bread, OJ, etc were already completely sold out. Part of the problem is with store management – but the bulk of the problem is a hoarder mentality. If the sign says “Limit 2”, people who would otherwise possibly only buy one feel compelled to take the second, “just in case”, because the sign implies that the item is in short supply and you might not be able to buy it later. It wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if the government’s response to these artificial shortages was to issue ration cards. It’s been done before.
Actually, the way this virus multiplies, it was inevitable that supply lines would be disrupted. Why didn’t you see that coming? And it is going to get worse, much worse.
As human population has increased, it was inevitable that nature would exploit that. All it takes is human stupidity to facilitate it, and now we are in a shit storm.
We need to decouple our supply chain from China. Why should they make our pharmaceuticals, pharmaceutical components, bond our integrated circuits, etc? The only thing China should be allowed to produce are those cheap tourist trinkets sold in tourist trap locations worldwide.
There’s plenty of supply, it’s the demand that’s gone out of whack.
CoVID 19 Worldwide Growth Rates
Plotted on log scale. Very alarming
http://nrg.cs.ucl.ac.uk/mjh/covid19/
A documentary about 1918 flu and a succession of later bugs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-B5YCQamLes
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Coronavirus: How the deadly epidemic sparked a global emergency | Four Corners
Paints a picture of incompetence.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycrqXJYf1SU