London amid coronavirus: Empty shelves but busy bars - CNN

The changing advice and the lack of widespread testing leave the collective impression here that it is either too late to stop what is happening, or something, inescapable and mammoth, is looming. This densely packed city of over 9 million simply can't make up its mind. Some shelves are empty, but some bars full.

"It looks as though London is now a few weeks ahead" of the rest of the country in the virus spread, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said out of nowhere on Monday. And given that the UK is meant to be a few weeks behind Italy, that gave the impression that collapse was imminent. But the lack of widespread testing here, means we -- and Johnson -- simply don't have the solid data, just the modeling.

On Thursday, a friend's husband out shopping reported raised voices over toilet paper left at a supermarket checkout in the Isle of Dogs, in the East End. A couple fighting over an indiscernible item in Lewisham, south of the Thames, caused security guards to rush in and knock people over. All over the course of one hour. Londoners will joke about it, until they're caught in it themselves.

The ubiquitous black cabbies were complaining of another fall in business. "I think the government has got the science right," one told me, as he solidly refused to stop talking.

But this is the question we are all asking. The idea of "herd immunity" -- of letting enough people catch the virus to mean our population is immune enough not to support it in the future -- seemed smart. Smart in that very British post-colonial, Brexit way of thinking you are smarter than pretty much all other countries, based on the solid hunch of a few clever people, and some confidence.

Was the sudden lurch Wednesday to school closures on Friday, and possible lockdowns in the city at the weekend, informed purely by new modeling based on fresh data about the virus' appalling severity from Italy? Or was it answering a chorus of criticism that Britain was going too much alone, in keeping the country open as usual?

As early as a week ago, my local store was crammed by 10 a.m., with shoppers walking past aisles of fresh produce, and instead electing to buy all the pasta, soap, bleach and toilet paper, as though guided by a future apocalypse that had yet to stop fish being delivered daily.

My barber said he will stay open "until they tell him to shut." The butcher remarked how "lovely and quiet" the skies were without planes, as he dumped twenty chicken breasts into my bag, before taking a call from a wholesaler whose prices had gone up again. Just near Holloway Road, on Thursday, an entire car's fender and number plate had been left on the side of the road, a harbinger perhaps of how great a chaos one driver felt we were sliding in to.

The UK's free health service NHS -- always the underfunded and adored hero of a country unable to appreciate how much basic medicine costs elsewhere -- has been caught in the headlights. Changing centralized advice has also not helped. A friend said she tried to go for a run on Hampstead Heath -- still crowded on Wednesday -- with a NHS manager friend, but they never got going as the manager was always taking urgent phone calls.

My brief experience of the NHS showed its problems. I'd had a cough since going to Munich, Germany for its security conference in mid-February. Or was it since I climbed into my parents' loft to help clear it out? I can't tell. After one boozy night a fortnight later, I woke up with a very mild fever (37.4 degrees Celsius/99.3 degrees Fahrenheit). I dialed 111 -- the NHS helpline -- and got told I probably didn't have coronavirus, but needed to see a doctor in the next two hours.

The doctor, herself suffering from a heavy cold, checked my vitals and diagnosed heavy man-flu and self-pity, saying I didn't really have a fever (below 38 degrees Celsius) and definitely didn't qualify for a test. She sent me packing. But a week later, the advice had changed and -- had I that fever and new cough now -- neither I, nor my partner, would have left the house for two weeks.

This is where many friends stand, exchanging stories of a tightness of the chest or an unusual bout of flu that didn't seem to go away -- all over the past 6 weeks. We don't know if that means we had "it," or just the flu. It's important to note that "as of 9 a.m. on 18 March 2020, 56,221 people have been tested in the UK, of which 53,595 were confirmed negative and 2,626 positive," the government says. So even those with enough symptoms to be tested have a very low chance of having had coronavirus. Our ignorance should be chilling, but somehow I've filled the blanks with assumptions for comfort.

We've seen how drastic the planning for disaster is. Draft legislation would let police arrest those evading quarantine. Volunteer workers would have their wages protected if they help out the NHS. The army could be called in, certainly to ship supplies to hospitals, perhaps to do more. Hundreds of billions of dollars are being spent to keep the economy afloat, in extraordinary hurry, when the future is something no algorithm can grapple with.

As the weekend and its uncertainty approaches, we're left draining the most we can out of homes that used to be places of transit and rest, and are now where we keep our stores, work, house errant family members, and take deliveries with a new, alien appreciation.

But also, in a city where eye contact a month earlier to some seemed like harassment, strangers are suddenly intimately aware of each other. Sometimes, so they can keep a medically safe distance. Sometimes, to be sure the elderly get where they need to on the crowded sidewalk. And sometimes, simply to smile, and take pleasure in letting the other person in the queue go first.

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2020-03-20 07:54:47Z
52780673462371

London amid coronavirus: Empty shelves but busy bars - CNN

The changing advice and the lack of widespread testing leave the collective impression here that it is either too late to stop what is happening, or something, inescapable and mammoth, is looming. This densely packed city of over 9 million simply can't make up its mind. Some shelves are empty, but some bars full.

"It looks as though London is now a few weeks ahead" of the rest of the country in the virus spread, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said out of nowhere on Monday. And given that the UK is meant to be a few weeks behind Italy, that gave the impression that collapse was imminent. But the lack of widespread testing here, means we -- and Johnson -- simply don't have the solid data, just the modeling.

On Thursday, a friend's husband out shopping reported raised voices over toilet paper left at a supermarket checkout in the Isle of Dogs, in the East End. A couple fighting over an indiscernible item in Lewisham, south of the Thames, caused security guards to rush in and knock people over. All over the course of one hour. Londoners will joke about it, until they're caught in it themselves.

The ubiquitous black cabbies were complaining of another fall in business. "I think the government has got the science right," one told me, as he solidly refused to stop talking.

But this is the question we are all asking. The idea of "herd immunity" -- of letting enough people catch the virus to mean our population is immune enough not to support it in the future -- seemed smart. Smart in that very British post-colonial, Brexit way of thinking you are smarter than pretty much all other countries, based on the solid hunch of a few clever people, and some confidence.

Was the sudden lurch Wednesday to school closures on Friday, and possible lockdowns in the city at the weekend, informed purely by new modeling based on fresh data about the virus' appalling severity from Italy? Or was it answering a chorus of criticism that Britain was going too much alone, in keeping the country open as usual?

As early as a week ago, my local store was crammed by 10 a.m., with shoppers walking past aisles of fresh produce, and instead electing to buy all the pasta, soap, bleach and toilet paper, as though guided by a future apocalypse that had yet to stop fish being delivered daily.

My barber said he will stay open "until they tell him to shut." The butcher remarked how "lovely and quiet" the skies were without planes, as he dumped twenty chicken breasts into my bag, before taking a call from a wholesaler whose prices had gone up again. Just near Holloway Road, on Thursday, an entire car's fender and number plate had been left on the side of the road, a harbinger perhaps of how great a chaos one driver felt we were sliding in to.

The UK's free health service NHS -- always the underfunded and adored hero of a country unable to appreciate how much basic medicine costs elsewhere -- has been caught in the headlights. Changing centralized advice has also not helped. A friend said she tried to go for a run on Hampstead Heath -- still crowded on Wednesday -- with a NHS manager friend, but they never got going as the manager was always taking urgent phone calls.

My brief experience of the NHS showed its problems. I'd had a cough since going to Munich, Germany for its security conference in mid-February. Or was it since I climbed into my parents' loft to help clear it out? I can't tell. After one boozy night a fortnight later, I woke up with a very mild fever (37.4 degrees Celsius/99.3 degrees Fahrenheit). I dialed 111 -- the NHS helpline -- and got told I probably didn't have coronavirus, but needed to see a doctor in the next two hours.

The doctor, herself suffering from a heavy cold, checked my vitals and diagnosed heavy man-flu and self-pity, saying I didn't really have a fever (below 38 degrees Celsius) and definitely didn't qualify for a test. She sent me packing. But a week later, the advice had changed and -- had I that fever and new cough now -- neither I, nor my partner, would have left the house for two weeks.

This is where many friends stand, exchanging stories of a tightness of the chest or an unusual bout of flu that didn't seem to go away -- all over the past 6 weeks. We don't know if that means we had "it," or just the flu. It's important to note that "as of 9 a.m. on 18 March 2020, 56,221 people have been tested in the UK, of which 53,595 were confirmed negative and 2,626 positive," the government says. So even those with enough symptoms to be tested have a very low chance of having had coronavirus. Our ignorance should be chilling, but somehow I've filled the blanks with assumptions for comfort.

We've seen how drastic the planning for disaster is. Draft legislation would let police arrest those evading quarantine. Volunteer workers would have their wages protected if they help out the NHS. The army could be called in, certainly to ship supplies to hospitals, perhaps to do more. Hundreds of billions of dollars are being spent to keep the economy afloat, in extraordinary hurry, when the future is something no algorithm can grapple with.

As the weekend and its uncertainty approaches, we're left draining the most we can out of homes that used to be places of transit and rest, and are now where we keep our stores, work, house errant family members, and take deliveries with a new, alien appreciation.

But also, in a city where eye contact a month earlier to some seemed like harassment, strangers are suddenly intimately aware of each other. Sometimes, so they can keep a medically safe distance. Sometimes, to be sure the elderly get where they need to on the crowded sidewalk. And sometimes, simply to smile, and take pleasure in letting the other person in the queue go first.

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2020-03-20 07:44:13Z
52780675944017

London amid coronavirus: Empty shelves but busy bars - CNN

The changing advice and the lack of widespread testing leave the collective impression here that it is either too late to stop what is happening, or something, inescapable and mammoth, is looming. This densely packed city of over 9 million simply can't make up its mind. Some shelves are empty, but some bars full.

"It looks as though London is now a few weeks ahead" of the rest of the country in the virus spread, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said out of nowhere on Monday. And given that the UK is meant to be a few weeks behind Italy, that gave the impression that collapse was imminent. But the lack of widespread testing here, means we -- and Johnson -- simply don't have the solid data, just the modeling.

On Thursday, a friend's husband out shopping reported raised voices over toilet paper left at a supermarket checkout in the Isle of Dogs, in the East End. A couple fighting over an indiscernible item in Lewisham, south of the Thames, caused security guards to rush in and knock people over. All over the course of one hour. Londoners will joke about it, until they're caught in it themselves.

The ubiquitous black cabbies were complaining of another fall in business. "I think the government has got the science right," one told me, as he solidly refused to stop talking.

But this is the question we are all asking. The idea of "herd immunity" -- of letting enough people catch the virus to mean our population is immune enough not to support it in the future -- seemed smart. Smart in that very British post-colonial, Brexit way of thinking you are smarter than pretty much all other countries, based on the solid hunch of a few clever people, and some confidence.

Was the sudden lurch Wednesday to school closures on Friday, and possible lockdowns in the city at the weekend, informed purely by new modeling based on fresh data about the virus' appalling severity from Italy? Or was it answering a chorus of criticism that Britain was going too much alone, in keeping the country open as usual?

As early as a week ago, my local store was crammed by 10 a.m., with shoppers walking past aisles of fresh produce, and instead electing to buy all the pasta, soap, bleach and toilet paper, as though guided by a future apocalypse that had yet to stop fish being delivered daily.

My barber said he will stay open "until they tell him to shut." The butcher remarked how "lovely and quiet" the skies were without planes, as he dumped twenty chicken breasts into my bag, before taking a call from a wholesaler whose prices had gone up again. Just near Holloway Road, on Thursday, an entire car's fender and number plate had been left on the side of the road, a harbinger perhaps of how great a chaos one driver felt we were sliding in to.

The UK's free health service NHS -- always the underfunded and adored hero of a country unable to appreciate how much basic medicine costs elsewhere -- has been caught in the headlights. Changing centralized advice has also not helped. A friend said she tried to go for a run on Hampstead Heath -- still crowded on Wednesday -- with a NHS manager friend, but they never got going as the manager was always taking urgent phone calls.

My brief experience of the NHS showed its problems. I'd had a cough since going to Munich, Germany for its security conference in mid-February. Or was it since I climbed into my parents' loft to help clear it out? I can't tell. After one boozy night a fortnight later, I woke up with a very mild fever (37.4 degrees Celsius/99.3 degrees Fahrenheit). I dialed 111 -- the NHS helpline -- and got told I probably didn't have coronavirus, but needed to see a doctor in the next two hours.

The doctor, herself suffering from a heavy cold, checked my vitals and diagnosed heavy man-flu and self-pity, saying I didn't really have a fever (below 38 degrees Celsius) and definitely didn't qualify for a test. She sent me packing. But a week later, the advice had changed and -- had I that fever and new cough now -- neither I, nor my partner, would have left the house for two weeks.

This is where many friends stand, exchanging stories of a tightness of the chest or an unusual bout of flu that didn't seem to go away -- all over the past 6 weeks. We don't know if that means we had "it," or just the flu. It's important to note that "as of 9 a.m. on 18 March 2020, 56,221 people have been tested in the UK, of which 53,595 were confirmed negative and 2,626 positive," the government says. So even those with enough symptoms to be tested have a very low chance of having had coronavirus. Our ignorance should be chilling, but somehow I've filled the blanks with assumptions for comfort.

We've seen how drastic the planning for disaster is. Draft legislation would let police arrest those evading quarantine. Volunteer workers would have their wages protected if they help out the NHS. The army could be called in, certainly to ship supplies to hospitals, perhaps to do more. Hundreds of billions of dollars are being spent to keep the economy afloat, in extraordinary hurry, when the future is something no algorithm can grapple with.

As the weekend and its uncertainty approaches, we're left draining the most we can out of homes that used to be places of transit and rest, and are now where we keep our stores, work, house errant family members, and take deliveries with a new, alien appreciation.

But also, in a city where eye contact a month earlier to some seemed like harassment, strangers are suddenly intimately aware of each other. Sometimes, so they can keep a medically safe distance. Sometimes, to be sure the elderly get where they need to on the crowded sidewalk. And sometimes, simply to smile, and take pleasure in letting the other person in the queue go first.

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2020-03-20 07:03:53Z
52780675944017

London Tube stations close but UK government plays down prospect of full lockdown - CNN

Up to 40 stations across London were being closed on Thursday and the night tube service will be suspended at weekends, Transport for London announced.

The order comes as the city's mayor Sadiq Khan urged Londoners not to travel unless it is essential to do so. "Londoners should be avoiding social interaction unless absolutely necessary, and that means they should be avoiding using the transport network unless absolutely necessary."

On Thursday morning, the government's communications team attempted to play down the prospect of a lockdown in the capital, a day after the prime Minister, Boris Johnson, declined to rule out stricter measures for the city.

On Wednesday, multiple government sources told CNN that conservations had taken place in Downing Street discussing measures ranging from shutting down parts of the capital's transport network to restricting travel in and out of the city. Similar reports appeared across the UK media.

On Thursday, the Prime Minister's spokesman said there was "zero prospect" of any restrictions on travel in and out of London and that there were "no plans" to shut down London's transport network. However, London's transport authority had already closed parts of London's Tube network, and the government did not rule out introducing further social distancing measures in the coming days.

London, by far the UK's busiest city, has been the worst-hit part of the country during the coronavirus pandemic. Of the 2,626 confirmed cases in the country, nearly 1,000 have been in London -- but health officials admit that the true number of people infected but not tested is likely far higher.

The Tube closures are intended to allow the city's "critical" workers, including hospital staff, to make essential journeys, Transport for London said.

The measure highlights the severity of the situation in Britain's capital. London's famous subway system -- the oldest in the world -- is used by around 2 million people every day, and has not seen extended mass closures since the the 7/7 terror attacks in 2005 shut down parts of the service for almost a month.

"London will get through these extraordinarily challenging times, and ensuring the capital's critical workers can move around the city will be crucial," Khan said.

Giving evidence to the London assembly on Thursday, Khan said too many Londoners were failing to follow official advice. "We are clearly still in the early phase of this crisis but the spread of the virus is at a more advanced stage in London than in other parts of the country. This means that further measures will need to be introduced at the point at which they will have the biggest effect," he said.

CNN's Luke McGee contributed reporting

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2020-03-19 14:28:00Z
52780672526917

London Tube stations close but UK government plays down prospect of full lockdown - CNN

Up to 40 stations across London were being closed on Thursday and the night tube service will be suspended at weekends, Transport for London announced.

The order comes as the city's mayor Sadiq Khan urged Londoners not to travel unless it is essential to do so. "Londoners should be avoiding social interaction unless absolutely necessary, and that means they should be avoiding using the transport network unless absolutely necessary."

On Thursday morning, the government's communications team attempted to play down the prospect of a lockdown in the capital, a day after the prime Minister, Boris Johnson, declined to rule out stricter measures for the city.

On Wednesday, multiple government sources told CNN that conservations had taken place in Downing Street discussing measures ranging from shutting down parts of the capital's transport network to restricting travel in and out of the city. Similar reports appeared across the UK media.

On Thursday, the Prime Minister's spokesman said there was "zero prospect" of any restrictions on travel in and out of London and that there were "no plans" to shut down London's transport network. However, London's transport authority had already closed parts of London's Tube network, and the government did not rule out introducing further social distancing measures in the coming days.

London, by far the UK's busiest city, has been the worst-hit part of the country during the coronavirus pandemic. Of the 2,626 confirmed cases in the country, nearly 1,000 have been in London -- but health officials admit that the true number of people infected but not tested is likely far higher.

The Tube closures are intended to allow the city's "critical" workers, including hospital staff, to make essential journeys, Transport for London said.

The measure highlights the severity of the situation in Britain's capital. London's famous subway system -- the oldest in the world -- is used by around 2 million people every day, and has not seen extended mass closures since the the 7/7 terror attacks in 2005 shut down parts of the service for almost a month.

"London will get through these extraordinarily challenging times, and ensuring the capital's critical workers can move around the city will be crucial," Khan said.

Giving evidence to the London assembly on Thursday, Khan said too many Londoners were failing to follow official advice. "We are clearly still in the early phase of this crisis but the spread of the virus is at a more advanced stage in London than in other parts of the country. This means that further measures will need to be introduced at the point at which they will have the biggest effect," he said.

CNN's Luke McGee contributed reporting

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2020-03-19 13:34:14Z
52780672526917

London Tube stations close but UK government plays down prospect of full lockdown - CNN

Up to 40 stations across London were being closed on Thursday and the night tube service will be suspended at weekends, Transport for London announced.

The order comes as the city's mayor Sadiq Khan urged Londoners not to travel unless it is essential to do so.

"Londoners should be avoiding social interaction unless absolutely necessary, and that means they should be avoiding using the transport network unless absolutely necessary."

On Thursday morning, the government's communications team attempted to play down the prospect of a lockdown in the capital, a day after the prime Minister, Boris Johnson, declined to rule out stricter measures for the city.

On Wednesday, multiple government sources told CNN that conservations had taken place in Downing Street discussing measures ranging from shutting down parts of the capital's transport network to restricting travel in and out of the city. Similar reports appeared across the UK media.

On Thursday, the Prime Minister's spokesman said there was "zero prospect" of any restrictions on travel in and out of London and that there were "no plans" to shut down London's transport network. However, London's transport authority had already closed parts of London's Tube network, and the government did not rule out introducing further social distancing measures in the coming days.

London, by far the UK's busiest city, has been the worst-hit part of the country during the coronavirus pandemic. Of the 2,626 confirmed cases in the country, nearly 1,000 have been in London -- but health officials admit that the true number of people infected but not tested is likely far higher.

The Waterloo and City line, which runs between Waterloo and Bank stations, will also be suspended from Friday.

The Tube closures are intended to allow the city's "critical" workers, including hospital staff, to make essential journeys, TfL said.

But the measure highlights the severity of the situation in Britain's capital. London's famous subway system -- the oldest in the world -- is used by around 2 million people every day, and has not seen extended mass closures since the the 7/7 terror attacks in 2005 shut down parts of the service for almost a month.

"London will get through these extraordinarily challenging times, and ensuring the capital's critical workers can move around the city will be crucial," Khan said.

On Wednesday multiple sources told CNN that the UK government is considering a partial lockdown in London, amid concerns that residents in the capital are not heeding official advice to stay at home.

Discussions have been held in Downing Street about restricting travel in and out of the city, including shutting down parts of the capital's public transport network, and about how those measures would be enforced, the sources said.

Asked at the UK government's daily coronavirus press conference on Wednesday about whether London would see further legal restrictions, Johnson said: "We live in land of liberty, as you know, and it's one of the great features of our lives we don't tend to impose those sorts of restrictions on people in this country."

"But I have to tell you we will rule nothing out and we will certainly wish to consider bringing forward further and faster measures where that is necessary," he added.

CNN's Luke McGee contributed reporting

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2020-03-19 13:08:19Z
52780672526917

UK considers partial lockdown in London and the army may be deployed to help - CNN

Discussions have been held in Downing Street about restricting travel in and out of the city, including shutting down parts of the capital's public transport network, and about how those measures would be enforced, the sources said.

On Thursday morning, Transport for London announced that it would close dozens of underground stations and begin limiting its service within 24 hours. Up to 40 stations have been shut across the capital. "Londoners should be avoiding social interaction unless absolutely necessary," said the city's mayor, Sadiq Khan.

Johnson and Khan will meet at lunchtime on Thursday to discuss the next steps for London, a spokesman for Khan said.

The government announced that up to 10,000 military personnel will be placed on standby throughout the UK in order to maintain public services in the coming months. Government sources told CNN on Wednesday that discussions had taken place concerning what role the armed forces could play in enforcing any lockdown measures.

Scientists believe that the spread of the virus is more advanced in London than in the rest of the UK, and there are concerns that not enough residents here are heeding the advice to work from home and stop going to bars, restaurants and other public places.

Asked at the UK government's daily coronavirus press conference on Wednesday about whether London would see further legal restrictions, Johnson said: "We live in land of liberty, as you know, and it's one of the great features of our lives we don't tend to impose those sorts of restrictions on people in this country. But I have to tell you we will rule nothing out and we will certainly wish to consider bringing forward further and faster measures where that is necessary."

A Downing Street source declined to comment on specifics or timing on any further restrictions in the capital, stressing that the government would do all that was necessary to protect public health.

But if such drastic measures were introduced, Londoners would be given plenty of notice to make any personal arrangements before they came into place, two government sources told CNN. They would mirror those taken in some European countries: In France, residents face a fine if they are unable to justify a decision to be outside.

A source close to the office of the London mayor told CNN that as of Wednesday, officials in City Hall were not aware of the plans yet and had not been party to any government thinking. Multiple sources close to the Prime Minister said they did not expect an announcement about London to be made imminently. But UK officials have repeatedly warned that the situation is moving quickly.

Earlier this week, Johnson warned that the spread of the virus in London was ahead of the rest of the UK and that Londoners should "take particularly seriously the advice about working from home and avoiding confined spaces such as pubs and restaurants."

Asked Wednesday about what he thought of people who failed to heed that advice, Johnson said: "The more ruthlessly we can enforce upon ourselves the advice... the fewer deaths we will have and the less suffering there will be."

In his press conference, Johnson said that all schools in the UK would close by the end of the week and that exams scheduled for the summer would not take place.

The UK has faced criticism from other nations that it has not yet been tough enough on measures against the pandemic. But British officials have stated repeatedly that they would move on a phased plan. The UK would do the "right thing at the right time," Johnson said.

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2020-03-19 12:51:15Z
52780672526917