In a step up of measures to reduce the spread of coronavirus COVID-19, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has tonight (Monday 23rd March) told the nation emphatically: “You must stay at home.”
In a televised ministerial address, the Prime Minister said that there were only a few reasons that people would be allowed to leave their homes:
- shopping for basic necessities, as infrequently as possible
- one form of exercise a day – for example a run, walk, or cycle – alone or with members of your household;
- any medical need, to provide care or to help a vulnerable person; and
- travelling to and from work, but only where this is absolutely necessary and cannot be done from home.
He said that the spread between households must be stopped and that the NHS became overwhelmed many more people would die.
He also instructed all shops to close – other than those providing food and medicines. Places of worship, libraries and all outdoor gathering areas such as playgrounds, were also told to close.
Police will have powers to disperse gatherings of more than two people not from the same household.
All social events, such as weddings, baptisms and other ceremonies are to be halted, but he stopped short of disallowing people to gather at funerals.
in closing, he said that the country could get through this, coming through it ‘stronger than ever’.
He said: “We will beat the coronavirus and we will beat it together.
“And therefore I urge you at this moment of national emergency to stay at home, protect our NHS and save lives.”
Address in full
The coronavirus is the biggest threat this country has faced for decades – and this country is not alone.
All over the world we are seeing the devastating impact of this invisible killer.
And so tonight I want to update you on the latest steps we are taking to fight the disease and what you can do to help.
And I want to begin by reminding you why the UK has been taking the approach that we have.
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.
And as we have seen elsewhere, in other countries that also have fantastic health care systems, that is the moment of real danger.
To put it simply, if too many people become seriously unwell at one time, the NHS will be unable to handle it – meaning more people are likely to die, not just from Coronavirus but from other illnesses as well.
So it’s vital to slow the spread of the disease.
Because that is the way we reduce the number of people needing hospital treatment at any one time, so we can protect the NHS’s ability to cope – and save more lives.
And that’s why we have been asking people to stay at home during this pandemic.
And though huge numbers are complying – and I thank you all – the time has now come for us all to do more.
From this evening I must give the British people a very simple instruction – you must stay at home.
Because the critical thing we must do is stop the disease spreading between households.
That is why people will only be allowed to leave their home for the following very limited purposes:
- shopping for basic necessities, as infrequently as possible
- one form of exercise a day – for example a run, walk, or cycle – alone or with members of your household;
- any medical need, to provide care or to help a vulnerable person; and
- travelling to and from work, but only where this is absolutely necessary and cannot be done from home.
That’s all – these are the only reasons you should leave your home.
You should not be meeting friends. If your friends ask you to meet, you should say No.
You should not be meeting family members who do not live in your home.
You should not be going shopping except for essentials like food and medicine – and you should do this as little as you can. And use food delivery services where you can.
If you don’t follow the rules the police will have the powers to enforce them, including through fines and dispersing gatherings.
To ensure compliance with the Government’s instruction to stay at home, we will immediately:
- close all shops selling non-essential goods, including clothing and electronic stores and other premises including libraries, playgrounds and outdoor gyms, and places of worship;
- we will stop all gatherings of more than two people in public – excluding people you live with;
- and we’ll stop all social events, including weddings, baptisms and other ceremonies, but excluding funerals.
Parks will remain open for exercise but gatherings will be dispersed.
No Prime Minister wants to enact measures like this.
I know the damage that this disruption is doing and will do to people’s lives, to their businesses and to their jobs.
And that’s why we have produced a huge and unprecedented programme of support both for workers and for business.
And I can assure you that we will keep these restrictions under constant review. We will look again in three weeks, and relax them if the evidence shows we are able to.
But at present there are just no easy options. The way ahead is hard, and it is still true that many lives will sadly be lost.
And yet it is also true that there is a clear way through.
Day by day we are strengthening our amazing NHS with 7500 former clinicians now coming back to the service.
With the time you buy – by simply staying at home – we are increasing our stocks of equipment.
We are accelerating our search for treatments.
We are pioneering work on a vaccine.
And we are buying millions of testing kits that will enable us to turn the tide on this invisible killer.
I want to thank everyone who is working flat out to beat the virus.
Everyone from the supermarket staff to the transport workers to the carers to the nurses and doctors on the frontline.
But in this fight we can be in no doubt that each and every one of us is directly enlisted.
Each and every one of us is now obliged to join together.
To halt the spread of this disease.
To protect our NHS and to save many many thousands of lives.
And I know that as they have in the past so many times.
The people of this country will rise to that challenge.
And we will come through it stronger than ever.
We will beat the coronavirus and we will beat it together.
And therefore I urge you at this moment of national emergency to stay at home, protect our NHS and save lives.
Thank you.
i thought the Government response to Grenfell was poor and callous,but this “herd immunity” non plan is just beyond belief.
who in their right mind has a plan to infect the majority of the country without the protective equipment for nurses who are caring for the infected or even for other key workers who’ll have to be in contact with everyone,including the vulnerable ??
especially knowing that their herd immunity plan means millions catching the virus and hundreds of thousands getting sick,with thousands of those people dying.
when they were discussing their herd immunity plan,what was the plan to protect and care for those vulnerable not infected?
what have our government been doing since the 1st February to prepare and protect those in care and other vulnerable people in communities across the country?
did anyone see the BBC Question Time from west brom 3 weeks ago,(also note the coughing from the audience throughout)with professor john Ashton on the panel?
if not have a look and ask yourself 3 weeks on who’s right, him or the government minister?
herd immunity without vaccine = survival of fittest. ie Social Darwinism eugenics
As of 9th April there has been
65,077 cases in the uk
7,978 deaths,
24 health and care workers have died so far,including
10 doctors
8 nurses
3 care workers
2 health care assistants
1 pharmacist.
We will remember them, yet without the proper personal protective equipment more will die.
Please sign the #6DEMANDS petition to demand PPE for all frontline staff.
https://www.change.org/p/boris-johnson-6-demands-from-nhs-staff-to-help-us-tackle-coronavirus?utm_source=grow_gb
Unbelievably, Its only yesterday,`the 15th April,that our government actually started testing people from care homes who have been discharged from a hospital or have symptoms. whats taken them so long?
why has it taken over 10 weeks for our government to realise that they’ve neglected to prepare care homes,?
who is responsible for such a catastrophic failure to act before now?
Sadly care homes workers and residents all over the country have been left like frogs in an unwatched boiling pot,and they’re paying a high price for that prolonged inaction.
it’s a disgrace and by not questioning our governments all round unpreparedness and continuing failures of policy,our so called free press are failing the country just as much as the politicians.
If politicians in charge aren’t held to account for decisions they’ve taken.or in many cases,failed to take, then these failures will keep on coming,leading to more deaths that could have been prevented.
it says a lot when Piers Morgan is the only one in the MSM asking proper questions about the under reporting of deaths and the failure of ministers to know even, how many medical workers and care home residents have died so far.
Unbelievably, Its only this week the 15th April,that our government actually started(sorry announced) testing for people from care homes who have been discharged from a hospital or have symptoms. whats taken them so long?
why has it taken over 10 weeks for our government to realise that they’ve neglected to prepare care homes,?
who is responsible for such a catastrophic failure to act before now?
Sadly care homes workers and residents all over the country have been left like frogs in an unwatched boiling pot,and they’re paying a high price for that prolonged inaction.
it’s a disgrace and by not questioning our governments all round unpreparedness and continuing failures of policy,our so called free press are failing the country just as much as the politicians.
If politicians in charge aren’t held to account for decisions they’ve taken.or in many cases,failed to take, then these failures will keep on coming,leading to more deaths that could have been prevented.
it says a lot when Piers Morgan is the only one in the MSM asking proper questions about the under reporting of deaths and the failure of ministers to even know, how many medical workers and care home residents have died so far.
To use Boris Johnsons own analogy, If this virus were a physical assailant – an unexpected and invisible mugger, our government gave him the keys and free reign to roam our care homes, unhindered to wreak havoc for 2 months.
“….. Data gathered by the care homes regulator, published for the first time on Tuesday by the Office for National Statistics, showed that from 10-24 April, care homes reported 4,343 deaths from coronavirus.”
There is no reliable data or figures for deaths from coronavirus in care homes before April 10th.
Shockingly, in the last 4 months, more nurses and healthcare workers in the UK have now died on the Covid 19 “frontline”, than the ammount of soldiers killed in 8 years fighting a war in Iraq.
So far, as of 7th May
71 nurses and midwives,
39 doctors,
27 healthcare assistants,
15 care workers,
48 other NHS key workers which include porters, drivers, cleaners, pharmacists ect have been killed fighting on the Covid19 frontline.
Why has the Government changed the surrounding hazard edging colour on their new “stay alert,control the virus,save lives”posters from red to green if not for “perception management” reasons?
Given that red and green on signs mean very different things,is it to subliminally change the message without taking responsibility for the actual message change?
If people are following government guidelines on lock down and staying at home what have they got to be alert for or too?
If the message is still “stay at home to protect the NHS”,why confuse that message by changing it, if not for “perception management”?
Since February Professor john Ashton was one of the few people who spoke out and warned us about how poorly this pandemic was being handled by politicians and has been spot on with his assessments on Covid19 since then.
I trust him more on Covid19 than our feckless government, laughable MP and servile BBC news.
Here is his take on the easing of lockdown.
https://youtu.be/4jhH4f8ULCM