Londoners woke up today to a new reality of quiet streets and shuttered stores — but serious overcrowding on the London Underground brought anguished appeals from medics for people to “stay home and save lives”.
Above ground, the cityscape was one of orderly compliance with the near-lockdown announced by Boris Johnson last night as millions of people stayed at home and most businesses obediently closed their doors to customers.
Underlining the national emergency, Army trucks drove over Westminster Bridge and past the House of Commons to deliver urgent supplies to St Thomas’ Hospital.
Below ground there was confusion and anger as passengers struggled to maintain social-distancing on platforms crowded with people trying to get to work on a stripped-down Tube service.
Hours after Boris Johnson said almost all Britons should stay at home in the most draconian shutdown in modern history, people were nose-to-nose on the Tube, trains and buses despite being told to be two metres apart to avoid catching coronavirus, which has claimed 335 lives so far.
To stem the terrifying number of deaths, gatherings of more than two people are now banned and people must only leave their homes for essential supplies, medical help, or to travel to work if it is ‘absolutely’ unavoidable.
Going out for exercise is allowed once a day as long as people stay two metres apart to stop the NHS collapsing under the strain of new cases.
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has demanded that employers enable their staff to work from home ‘unless it’s absolutely necessary’ and avoid rush hour if they can’t, adding: ‘Ignoring these rules means more lives lost. Some of the people on the Tube yesterday and today are not essential workers, I can tell you that’.
But there is ongoing confusion caused by Boris Johnson’s long list of key workers – with many packed on to trains appearing to be labourers legitimately heading to building sites in London after housing secretary Robert Jenrick tweeted last night: ‘If you are working on site, you can continue to do so.’
Sharing a horrifying picture of a packed Tube train this morning, NHS sonographer Nicola Smith tweeted: ‘This is my tube this morning. I live in zone 4 and work in a zone 1 hospital. I love my job, but now I’m risking my health just on the journey in?! @SadiqKhan put the tube service back to normal so we can all spread out, or @BorisJohnson start policing who’s getting on. Help me!’.
After completing her journey to the Imperial College NHS Trust in west London, she said: ‘I worry for my health more on my commute than actually being in the hospital.’
