Coronavirus: PM Boris Johnson places Britain under lockdown
- The lockdown, to last at least three weeks, comes as Johnson warns the 66 million Britons that ‘many lives will sadly be lost’
- Earlier that day, Chinese President Xi Jinping told Johnson to ‘minimise the risk of the spread of the coronavirus’
Britain has been placed under a lockdown for at least three weeks to slow the spread of Covid-19, as Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that “the way ahead is hard” and warned the 66 million Britons that “many lives will sadly be lost”.
Speaking from his official residence at 10 Downing Street in London on Monday, Johnson said that the time “has now come for us all to do more” – and introduced drastic measures like those already adopted by most European countries.
“People will only be allowed to leave their home for the following very limited purposes,” he said. “The police will have the powers to enforce [the rules], including through fines and dispersing gatherings.”
“No prime minister wants to enact measures like this,” Johnson said. “I know the damage that this disruption is doing and will do to people’s lives.”
The government said on Monday that another 54 people had died in the previous 24 hours after testing positive for the coronavirus, raising the country’s pandemic deaths to 335.
The number of confirmed cases rose to 6,650 on Monday, from 5,683 on Sunday.
