Re: Why were UK so slow to stop the planes from Italy?
If Boris had shutdown the airports and sea ports to put the country into lockdown to prevent the virus from getting into the country BEFORE the WHO updated their warning level to pandemic, I guarantee you ALL the UK airlines and ferry companies would have immediately gone to the court to raise an injunction to prevent the government closing down the country before the WHO raised the warning level to pandemic because the airline companies and ferry companies would have argued that the science does not prove that there is a major problem yet and that the government does not have the right to tell them to stop.
The 11th of March is when the WHO raised the warning level to pandemic and that is when the government started to act. Weeks prior to that date virology experts around the globe was telling the WHO chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus that he should call it a pandemic now so that countries could act but he failed to do so. This is why the chief has come under severe criticism because his failure to act quicker allowed air travel to continue and the virus to spread.
Remember, the government is not allowed to interfere in the operation of private companies unless they break certain laws. The government can stop the operation of private and public companies and businesses if there is a situation that affects the safety of the country and it's people BUT it can only do so when a certain warning level has been reached. It is the same with the WTO (World Trade Organisation), the IMF (International Monetary Fund) and the UN (United Nations). When either of these 3 raise their warning levels to a specific level, governments can legally prevent companies and businesses from doing their job and there is nothing they can do about it. The WHO kept the warning level high which was not enough for governments to lockdown their countries. I believe some did and as a result, that is up to their own companies and businesses to see if they want to take the matter further. When the WHO raised the level to pandemic, governments around the world went into action but it was too late, many infected people from China (not just Chinese people but foreign business men and women, people on holiday) had already flown back to the countries where they was working or doing education.