IT HAS BEEN a tumultuous week in Britain. On Monday, March 16th, the government abandoned its strategy of gradually building herd immunity to the covid-19 virus. In a televised address Boris Johnson, the prime minister, encouraged his compatriots to work from home, and to avoid pubs and restaurants. But because he did not order them to do so, many Britons took his suggestions with a pinch of salt . Photos circulated on social media of packed Tube carriages in London.
The British government’s reluctance to quarantine its residents looks increasingly out of step with the rest of Europe. Italy, Spain and France have all imposed nationwide lockdowns. Whereas Mr Johnson has opined that “people must make their own decisions”, Emmanuel Macron, France’s president, has castigated those who carry on as usual: “not only are you not protecting yourselves, you are not protecting others.
Data released over the weekend confirm that Britons are mingling more than people in most other Western countries, even after Mr Johnson’s ban on Friday night. Citymapper, a route-planning app with 20m users, has created a “mobility index” that estimates how much people are moving around in a selection of 40 cities, compared to a typical day. The index is based on users’ journeys by foot and on public transport .
Though mobility has fallen during the last fortnight in all 40 cities, there are considerable regional differences. Seoul and Tokyo had already experienced significant declines by the start of March, and have stabilised since then, as the spread of the virus has slowed. Australia and Russia are still operating at close to 50% mobility, with few deaths recorded there yet.
For now, Britons might feel the virus is a distant threat, especially if they are young and unlikely to die from it. As of Saturday, March 21st, the national death toll from covid-19 stood at 233, just 5% of the 4,827 registered so far in Italy. But Britain is following exactly the trajectory that Italy was 14 days ago, with the same exponential rate of growth . The Italian government imposed a nationwide lockdown on March 9th.
Thank you for trying to save lives by warning of the results that WILL happen if U.K. residents don’t Social_Distancing StayAtHome covid-19
is 'Netherlands' a city now?
Irresponsible
It’s therefore justifiable that the UK has been cut off from the US.
That is pathetic. You have a few numbers of dubious provenance and from that we get ex cathedra pronouncements.
Fake news wants everybody to stay home because large captive audiences can be easily brainwashed on TV with their liberal agenda. Remember: 'Satan is the father of all lies.'