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Most of the world is engaged in some form of lockdown at this point, barring a few countries that seem to struggle with the concept of a global pandemic.

How a country determines rules and regulations depends on what they do or do not consider essential services, the extent of infection rates, and how a government handled the situation at the outset.

We’ve seen a variety of takes on what is and isn’t considered essential to daily life, with America winning the prize for the most unnecessary and dangerous “essential service” – the sale of guns and ammunition.

The UK didn’t do itself any favours by initially suggesting a ‘herd immunity’ approach to combatting COVID-19. Things obviously escalated due to the highly contagious nature of the virus, and they’ve since adopted somewhat more reasonable ‘lockdown’ measures.

Their lockdown, which has just been extended by three weeks following an announcement yesterday, looks very different from our own.

Sky News reports:

Shoppers who have gone out on their weekly shop to fill their cupboards, fridges and freezers will not be stopped from heading down “non-essential” aisles on their trip.

The guidelines add that as long as shops are open, customers have a reasonable excuse to visit them and that it would not be proportionate to stop people buying “non-essential” items.

This was clarified after an officer posted on social media that he and his colleagues were policing ‘non-essential’ supermarket aisles.

Britons are also allowed to go for a walk in the countryside, practice yoga or take a jog. You’re permitted to drive around, provided that drive takes you to somewhere where you can exercise or walk.

Just don’t sit on park benches for too long. You need to keep moving or you’ll be in trouble.

Other reasons to leave home include and argument with your spouse or family. You can move to a friend’s house for a couple of days to “cool off” before returning home. At the same time, you are prohibited from visiting a friend at their address.

The one seems to cancel out the other, so I’m not sure how that works.

Further measures in place include more uniform lockdown regulations. Essential workers can continue working, while non-essential workers have been asked to work from home.

Some experts in the UK think that the lockdown shouldn’t be lifted until a vaccine has been discovered. While human trials have commenced on a possible vaccine, it could take a minimum of 18 months to fully determine its effectiveness.

These are strange times and they appear to be even stranger in the UK.

[source:skynews]