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Boris Johnson Steps Up Plans To Tackle Coronavirus As Criticism Mounts

Jamie Dettmer

   British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will step up government action
   this week in a bid to slow the spread across Britain of the potentially
   deadly coronavirus by accelerating plans to make the elderly stay at
   home -- possibly for months -- and for whole families to
   self-quarantine when any family member displays COVID-19 symptoms.

   The acceleration of planned new social-distancing rules marks the third
   policy reversal by Johnson in the past four days. The move comes after
   hundreds of scientists accused the government in an open letter of
   "risking many more lives than necessary" by delaying the introduction
   of more restrictive social-distancing measures.

   They are urging the government to start locking-down virus hotspots,
   close schools and order the cessation of flights from other countries
   affected by the outbreak, as other European countries and the U.S. have
   done.

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