There now follows a ministerial
broadcast from the Prime Minister.
Good evening,
the Coronavirus is the biggest threat
this country has faced for decades and
this country is not alone. All over the
world, we're seeing the devastating impactof this invisible killer and so tonight
I want to update you on the latest steps
we're taking to fight the disease and
what you can do to help. And I want to
begin by reminding you why the UK has
been taking the approach that we have.
Without a huge national effort to halt
the growth of this virus, there will come
a moment when no health service in the
world could possibly cope because there
won't be enough ventilators, enough
intensive care beds, enough doctors and
nurses and as we've seen elsewhere in
other countries that also have fantastic
health care systems, that is the moment
of real danger. To put it simply, if too
many people become seriously unwell at
one time, the NHS will be unable to
handle it, meaning more people are likely
to die not just from Coronavirus, but
from other illnesses as well. So it's
vital to slow the spread of the disease
because that is the way we reduce the
number of people needing hospital
treatment at any one time, so we can
protect the NHS's ability to cope and
save more lives and that's why we've
been asking people to stay at home
during this pandemic and though huge
numbers are complying, and I thank you
all, the time has now come for us all to
do more. From this evening, I must give
the British people a very simple
instruction, you must stay at home
because the critical thing we must do to
stop the disease spreading between
households. That is why people will only
be allowed to leave their home for the
following very limited purposes:
shopping for basic necessities as
infrequently as possible, one form of
exercise a day, for example, a run, walk or
cycle alone or with members of your
household, any medical need to provide
care or to help a vulnerable person and
traveling to and from work but only
whether this is absolutely necessary and
cannot be done from home. That's all.
These are the only reasons you should
leave your home. You should not be
meeting friends. If your friends ask you
to meet you, should say no. You should not be meeting family members who do
not live in your home. You should not be
going shopping except for essentials
like food and medicine and you should do
this as little as you can and use food
delivery services where you can. If you
don't follow the rules,
the police will have the powers to
enforce them, including through fines and
dispersing gatherings, to ensure
compliance with the government's
instruction to stay at home, we will
immediately close all shops selling
non-essential goods, including clothing
and electronic stores and other premises
including libraries, playgrounds and
outdoor gyms and places of worship.
We'll stop all gatherings of more than two
people in public, excluding people you
live with, and will stop all social
events including weddings, baptisms and
other ceremonies, but excluding funerals.
Parks will remain open for exercise but
gatherings will be dispersed. No Prime
Minister wants to enact measures like
this. I know the damage that this
disruption is doing and will do to
people's lives to their businesses and
to their jobs and that's why we've
produced a huge and unprecedented
program of support, both for workers and
for business and I can assure you that
we will keep these restrictions under
constant review. We will look again
in three weeks and relax them, if the
evidence shows we are able to but at
present, there are just no easy options.
The way ahead is hard and it is still
true that many lives will sadly be lost
and it is also true that there is a
clear way through day by day, we are
strengthening our amazing NHS with 7500
former clinicians now coming back to the
service. With the time you buy by simply
staying at home, we are increasing our
stocks of equipment. We are accelerating
our search for treatments. We're
pioneering work on a vaccine and we are
buying millions of testing kits that
will enable us to turn the tide on this
invisible killer. I want to thank
everyone who is working flat-out to beat
the virus. Everyone from the supermarket
staff to the transport workers to the
carers to the nurses and doctors on the
frontline but in this fight we can be in
no doubt that each and every one of us
is directly enlisted. Each and every one
of us is now obliged to join together to
halt the spread of this disease to
protect our NHS and to save many, many
thousands of lives and I know that, as
they have in the past so many times, the
people of this country will rise to that
challenge and we will come through it
stronger than ever. We will beat the
coronavirus and we will beat it together
and therefore, I urge you at this moment
of national emergency to stay at home.
Protect our NHS and save lives. Thank you.
