The measures announced by Boris Johnson on Monday night are as sweeping as almost any announced elsewhere in Europe in response to the coronavirus. Roads and railway lines will remain open, as will some shops including, supermarkets, pharmacies and post offices – but almost everything else will close.
Police will be empowered to enforce rules compelling people to stay at home apart from essential trips and a single bout of exercise every day. And gatherings of more than two people in public will be banned.
A lifelong libertarian, Johnson moved reluctantly to bring Britain into line with the draconian measures introduced elsewhere to slow the spread of the virus. But evidence that Britain's death toll was on course to follow Italy's into the thousands made the case for coercive action unanswerable.
Images over the weekend of crowds in parks and at outdoor markets and of crowded underground trains in London on Monday morning helped to amplify the public demand for tougher measures.
The economic measures introduced by chancellor of the exchequer Rishi Sunak last week have ensured that most businesses can comply with the new restrictions without going bust or having to lay off all their employees. The government will pay 80 per cent of the wages of employees who are furloughed rather than laid off and billions of pounds in grants and loans are available to firms to stay afloat during the shutdown.
Legislation passed by MPs on Monday night gives the government the powers they need to enforce any measures necessary to control the spread of the virus, including the power to detain people suspected of being infected for up to a month.
Britain’s strategy is now more closely in line with that of its neighbours than at any time since the beginning of the pandemic. But it remains an outlier in important respects, notably in its approach to testing and contact tracing.
Testing capacity is being ramped up but little effort is made to test anyone apart from those admitted to hospital. And contact tracing is all but non-existent, in contrast not only with Ireland but with countries like Germany, where medical students were this week drafted in to help with the work.
Britain’s shift last week away from mitigation towards more aggressive action to suppress the coronavirus could save thousands of lives. But there seems little doubt that it could have saved more if it came sooner.