LONDON — Britain, which had stood apart from other nations in the relaxed nature of its response to the coronavirus, hardened those measures significantly on Monday, urging people to stop going to pubs or restaurants, and putting in place strict quarantine policies for those infected by the virus. But Britain is still putting off some steps, most conspicuously the closing of schools. With reported cases of the virus surging to 1,543, an increase of 171 in a single day, Mr. Johnson said Britain was on the cusp of a rapid spread that demanded more draconian countermeasures. He likened the latest steps to the kinds of changes the British people were asked to make in wartime. “I can’t remember anything like it in my lifetime,” said Mr. Johnson, flanked by his medical and scientific advisers, at a news briefing at 10 Downing Street, the prime minister’s offices.

Source: New York Times March 16, 2020 23:26 UTC