Britain | Grounded

Britain’s belated quarantine scheme

The punishment for breaking the new rules is up to ten years in jail

BY FEBRUARY 15th last year, only nine cases of covid-19 had been confirmed in Britain. On that day, the Times reported that the government’s existing flu pandemic strategy suggested closing the country’s borders would be pointless since it would probably hold back the virus by only a couple of weeks. “What we are seeing are the droplets before the wave,” a government official said then. Exactly a year on, as the country’s tally of cases edges over 4m, the flood defences are finally going up.

This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “Grounded”

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From the February 13th 2021 edition

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