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Fully vaccinated people in Britain can now carry on life like normal within weeks and be free of quarantine, with no need to take daily tests.

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Actions being taken in the UK to prevent spread from variants of coronavirus in July 2021 as increasing number of British tourists visit France, Greece and Portugal. Quarantine is now required at home for 8 days for vaccinated people from UK coming back from France because of a rise of cases in France

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A draft decree in the prime minister's office shows a plan to place quarantine covering the Lombardy region of Italy and nearby provinces, including the cities of Milan, Venice and Modena. The population in this region of 10 million people will face restrictions on mobility. The draft decree says transit in and out of the quarantine zones will be granted only in the event of "grave situations." It urges people to stay inside their homes and not travel. A similar quarantine in China around the Wuhan region helped limit the spread of coronavirus and bring it under control. Today the worst hit and not yet under control are Iran and Italy.

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In an effort to take decisive action early the quarantine is extended from Lombardy to the whole of Italy. Travel is restricted to places where people live. Italy has suspended payment of bills, taxes and mortgages. All open air assembly and sporting events are banned. Italy's quarantine is similar to the quarantine in Hubei province China, where cases have dropped sharply showing that it worked in China. Italy is also setting aside 10 billion euros for the effort to contain the coronavirus crisis and mitigate the economic impact.

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France and Italy are imposing strict rules for their lockdown and tougher enforcement to control spread of coronavirus. India has imposed a quarantine, a total ban on leaving the home with a televised address by prime minister Modi that set a 21 day lockdown period. Modi said "if the pandemic cannot be managed in 21 days it would set India back by 21 years." 

Fines of $3000 euros are imposed in Italy and cars seized by the police. A special form has to filled out in Italy showing where one is going and checked by police if leaving the home. In France one needs an Affidavit of Movement by Special Dispensation is a filled form required for everyone outside the home. All open air markets are closed in France and drones are used to warn people outside.

All domestic and international flights in India are stopped. All domestic passenger trains and bus services in India are also stopped.

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China has used the experience gained from an earlier SARS outbreak to tackle the virus outbreak in 2019 which started at a food market in Wuhan. Early detection, strict quarantines, and other measures, were taken. A viral pneumonia outbreak happened in Wuhan, a city of 19 million. 59 people were quarantined and the largest food and seafood market in Wuhan was shut down quickly. Between the first case on December 12 to the detection of the new strain of coronavirus in 1 month, China acted with speed, showing China's strength in public health resources and research labs.

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Just as Democrats and Mr Biden learned from the experience of earlier lockdowns in the US and opened up the US economy in 2021 and 2022, China is now taking its own steps to move away from its earlier policies that affected the economy with frequent lockdowns and tight restrictions. There are some risks but in the long run this could get China to a better place after the people's fatigue with lockdowns that is similar to what happened in the US getting the US to where it is today.

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There can be some comfort with the loss of the usual social contact during the period of lockdown and working from home. There are is the opportunity to slow down, pause and reflect in prayer or meditation. There is also time to spend in gardens or parks, a patio or balcony to be outside. As Adrian Higgins of the Washington Post- who has two books on gardening and covered it since the 1980's- points out here we are not apart from nature or above it, we are nature, and plants and birds outside are fellow beings of a sort. Most of us live in tight urban environments and this is a great opportunity to break away from all the noise and bustle and experience some time with nature and with ourselves. A time for renewal and listening to our inner voices, as the gods may be reminding us about living a better and slower life. Higgins reminds us that sometimes it is an experience that is alive in memory as there is a word for it in Japanese and in German, and in other languages. In Japan shinrin-yoku is about forest bathing, by finding a woodland or park and experiencing the stillness. Germans call it a forest walk or waldspaziergang. Plant gardens or parks will do, even landscaped areas in urban settings. The shades in a garden with sunlight falling in different ways on leaves and plants. We develop a capacity to notice things we stopped noticing as we grew up. Just walk or sit quietly and look. Plants and trees also take away some of the isolation and loneliness as they are fellow travelers of a sort. As anyone who has planted will know we can look forward to the new flowering, and the growth into next year, and the next. We have got too intertwined with the short term and the immediate fulfillment, and this draws us out of this in ways that enrich and nourish our lives.     ...

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The lessons from Italy, the epicenter now of the coronavirus pandemic, are clear- act early and decisively, impose quarantines and lockdown quickly to prevent intermingling. These steps need to be put early, with absolute clarity, and strictly enforced. This report in the NYT shows how decisive action early is the only way to prevent the crisis from becoming a large one that threatens the health system and millions. German states such as Bavaria and others now have a $25,000 euro and some have jail time. Singapore has jail time and fines for violating the stay home quarantine orders which it imposes after contact tracing. Taiwan has similar measures. Enforcement and strict control are part of the tools that have worked in these places and in China, South Korea.  Britain has still to close flights from Iran, Italy, which The Times reports on March 20 are still landing at Heathrow. This is after the U.S. weeks earlier banned flights from China, Iran, Italy, and last week from Europe after EU nations failed to take action early.  ...

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Health officials around the world, companies, governments, and schools are creating health policy on the fly, and prefer to err on the side of caution in setting policy. The American government said that it would deny entry to foreign citizens who traveled to China in past 14 days, and American citizens returning from Hubei province, china, will be quarantined for 14 days. Major airlines have stopped flights to China. Nothing like this has happened before. A major public health experiment in setting policy is underway, mostly preferring lockdown or quarantine as preferred method. 

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These simulations show the  importance of flattening the curve for coronavirus especially the steep jump in the curve when it grows exponentially as people mingle in crowded environments, on trains and subways, and in public gatherings of more than 10 people. This is shown here in four different simulations in the Washington Post. Social distancing and quarantine worked in China, Taiwan, Singapore and South Korea. Though the attempted quarantine simulation here does not cover the situations in China, Taiwan and Singapore where quarantine has worked and was the only way to tackle the coronavirus in time to do least damage. Additional simulations would show the way it was limited in Singapore through contact tracing and mandated staying at home for all who have come in contact with affected persons. And in South Korea a simulation could show how this worked through containment by testing and limiting spread, or China by an effective quarantine or lockdown of a city or province.  The basic idea is to limit contact and separate so that intermingling is restricted to as few places as possible for a limited period during which health authorites can achieve a controlled situation through systemwide organized efforts.  ...

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China has used the quarantine and strict measures to contain the coronavirus. After being taken by surprise in the way the coronavirus developed in Wuhan region China shifted to large scale containment and quarantine. To do this China used technology, mobile carrier information, volunteers going from door to door and enforced quarantine action. Other countries in Europe, including Italy, are adopting measures such as quarantine and appeals to the public for cooperative behaviours.

The entire approach is new yet shows how government and citizens can work together to contain epidemics of this kind in the modern world of urbanized areas and close contact in subways, streets, and stadiums. The approach in democratic countries may vary from China yet essentially strong bold action has proved to be the way to go, not vacillating and acting one step at a time till things are out of control. 

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Of the 291 million migrant workers, people from rural areas who work in cities, only about 120 million have returned to work by Feb 14, according to China's Transport Minister. Workers can choose to stay in their home region or come back to the cities and face a 14 day quarantine before being allowed to go back to work. In Beijing the entire city of 22 million has a 14 day quarantine. Even if workers complete the quarantine factories may be closed.

This is likely to cut the growth rate by half from last years 6.4% to 3% for the 1st quarter GDP.

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President Trump extends the U.S. lockdown for social distancing till April 30, on the advice of health experts. China meanwhile resumes industrial production and schools reopen. Factories, offices and retail outlets were shutdown for 2 months nearly nationwide in China. The U.S. has a social distancing lockdown not a complete quarantine of hotspots such as New York, New Jersey. Mr. Trump planned to quarantine New York but faced opposition from the governors of New York and New Jersey, including possible legal challenges. U.S. governors have acted imposing travel restrictions to their states from hotspots in other places in the country, forcing people traveling to self-isolate, stopping vehicles with out of state license plates and asking them to stay away. The U.S. cases have jumped from 100 in early March to 143,000 as of March 28, 2020, and 2514 deaths, according to John Hopkins. New estimates from president Trump and his team of experts are for the peak to be reached by April 15, and recovery gradually taking place by June 1, 2020. Based on the timeline in China shown below the time from the first set of 27 cases by December 15 to March 28 when China's factories were back to work and schools reopened across the country, is a period of 75 days. Based on this president Trump's timeline of June 1 for recovery has some foundation. China quarantined strictly compared to the U.S. yet in the early days it had no warning which the U.S. had in particular from Italy. The Trump administration by extending social distancing and lockdown restrictions till April 30 without a strict quarantine of the East coast areas yet with states outside imposing their own restrictions for outsiders, is doing what other countries such as China, South Korea, have to control this epidemic. The first coronavirus case was reported on November 17, 2019 according to the South China Morning Post, By December 15, the number of cases had reached 15. On December 27 on a single day 180 cases were recorded and the Head of the Respiratory Department at Hubei Provincial Hospital reported this to health authorites in China, according to the South China Morning Post, based on data collected in China.   ...

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Airports and airlines are trying to promote flying by offering coid testing to avoid quarantines imposed by state and federal governments. Airports are opening test centres offering the PCR test which takes 48 hours for results and rapid tests that take 15 minutes but are not as accurate. Some airlines are looking at designating certain flights as covid tested flights with all passengers either tested and negative or having been removed from the flight. Lufthansa has testing at airports in Frankfurt and Munich with the German government agreeing to it that people tested and negative did not have to quarantine for 14 days. Following this summer traffic jumped. The head of the resting task force at Lufthansa, Mr. Leffers, says testing is now becoming an integral part of the flying experience. Bermuda has some of the toughest testing rules with tests required on Day 1, Day 4, Day 7 and Day 14, resulting in low traffic over the summer. Yet with covid rates rising elsewhere Bermuda has become a safer destination resulting in a large increase in traffic this month. ...

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Life under quarantine is described by a resident of Milan after president Conte announces the quarantine of Lombardy province which includes the city of Milan.

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A NYT video simulation that shows how early action is critical with decisive steps for quarantine and lockdown with enforcement, to control the spread of coronavirus. It shows the spread along a timeline of the coronavirus in the U.S.

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Italy is planning to place a quarantine in the north covering the region around Milan and 11 provinces nearby, in a draft decree from the prime minister's office, says this report in the WSJ. When a final decision is made the quarantine would go into effect March 8 and go on till April 3, 2020. This move is similar to the quarantine steps taken in China which helped limit the health crisis in China from coronavirus. The new decree also includes tight restrictions on travel in the affected areas. 

The new action is being taken as earlier measures have not limited the spread of coronavirus. They were requested by the government in Lombardy, which combined with Emilia Romagna and Veneto are the worst hit of the regions in northern Italy with about 85% of cases. It also means the industrial economy with 40% of GDP is affected.

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More games are being played in stadiums behind closed doors as in Japanese baseball or canceled altogether as in Italy. The coronavirus is leading to restrictions on mass gatherings, both in live entertainment and in sports.  Japan has changed its sports calendar postponing most events. Switzerland banned gatherings of over 1000 people, and France suspended events with gatherings of over 5000 people.  There is an acceptance of the fact that social distancing reduces the speed and extent of the spread of the virus, with countries that acted with quarantines and restrictions having a slower spread. This is now the case in China. In South Korea the lack of effective quarantine has led to spread of the virus. The extra time gained from slowing down the spread is important to let hospitals and medical systems cope. Things can be less intense for the medical community which is important for all countries.  Players and performers also are reluctant to be exposed to the virus in the current situation, particularly in locker rooms and other locations in stadiums. ...

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British prime minister Boris Johnson warns that the second wave of the pandemic is here. More countries face quarantine measures for travelers returning to England.