and call nhs 111. this advice was also advocated for any person with flu-like symptoms and a history of travelling from vietnam, cambodia, laos, myanmar and areas in italy north of pisa, florence and rimini, returning to the uk since 19 february. later, self-isolation was recommended for anyone returning from any part of italy from 9 march. initially, prime minister boris johnson largely kept britain open, resisting the kind of lockdowns seen elsewhere in europe. in a speech on 3 february, johnson's main concern was that the "coronavirus will trigger a panic and a desire for market segregation that go beyond what is medically rational to the point of doing real and unnecessary economic damage". on 11 february, a "senior member of the government" told the itv journalist robert peston that "if there is a pandemic, the peak will be march, april, may" and, further, that "the risk is 60% of the population getting it. with a mortality rate of perhaps just over 1%, we are looking at not far off 500,000 deaths". on 8 march, peston reported that the government believed the italian government's approach to lockdown to be based on "several of the populist – non-science based – measures that aren't any use. they're who not to follow". later the times revealed that, in early march, the government did not even ask its scientists to model whether a lockdown might be a solution. on 2 march, johnson said in an interview with bbc news: "the most important thing now is that we prepare against a possible very significant expansion of coronavirus in the uk population". this came after the 39th case in the uk was confirmed and over a month after the first confirmed case in the uk. the same day, a bbc one programme coronavirus: everything you need to know addressed questions from the public on the outbreak. the following day, the coronavirus action plan was unveiled. the next day, as the total number of cases in the uk stood at 51, the government declared the covid-19 pandemic as a "level 4 incident", permitting nhs england to take command of all nhs resources. planning has been made for behaviour changing publicity including good hygiene and respiratory hygiene ("catch it, bin it, kill it"), a measure designed to delay the peak of the infection and allow time for the testing of drugs and initial development of vaccines. primary care has been issued guidance. on 11 march, the deputy chief medical officer for england jenny harries said that the government was "following the science" by not banning mass gatherings. she also said, on face masks, "if a healthcare professional hasn't advised you to wear a face mask... it's really not a good idea and doesn't help". she added that masks could "actually trap the virus in the mask and start breathing it in". on 13 march, british government chief scientific adviser patrick vallance told bbc radio 4 one of "the key things we need to do" is to "build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission". this involves enough people getting infected, upon which they develop immunity to the disease. vallance said 60% of the uk's population will need to become infected for herd immunity to be achieved. another member of the uk government's scientific advisory group for emergencies (sage), graham medley, told bbc's newsnight that: "we're going to have to generate what we call herd immunity ... and the only way of developing that, in the absence of a vaccine, is for the majority of the population to become infected." a downing street source later revealed that the "mantra" in government at this time was that "we've all got to get it." this stance was criticised by experts who said it would lead to hundreds of thousands of deaths and overwhelm the nhs. more than 200 scientists urged the government to rethink the approach in an open letter. subsequently, health secretary matt hancock said that herd immunity was not a plan for the uk, and the department of health and social care said that "herd immunity is a natural by-product of an epidemic". on 26 march, deputy chief medical officer jenny harries said that testing and contact tracing was no longer "an appropriate mechanism as we go forward". on 4 april, the times reported that graham medley, a member of the uk government's scientific advisory group for emergencies (sage), was still advocating a "herd immunity" strategy. there was a letter published in the lancet on 17 march calling on the government to openly share its data and models as a matter of urgency. covid-19 alert levels introduced by the government public health england has also been involved with efforts to support the british overseas territories against the outbreak. large sporting and cultural events took place into mid-march, with culture secretary oliver dowden and jonathan van-tam dismissing calls to ban them in early that month. cheltenham festival and a liverpool match of the uefa champions league knockout phase are particularly thought to have increased the virus' spread. as many event organisers themselves began cancelling events, reports emerged on 13 march that the government would introduce a ban on large gatherings the following week. on 16 march, the british government started holding daily press briefings. the briefings were to be held by the prime minister or government ministers and advisers. the government had been accused of a lack of transparency over their plans to tackle the virus. daily briefings were also held by the devolved administrations of northern ireland, scotland and wales. the speakers at the daily press briefings were accompanied by sign language interpreters. british sign language is a recognised language in scotland and wales, with interpreters standing 2 metres behind ministers. northern ireland's briefings had both british and irish sign language interpreters who were shown on a small screen in the press conference room. the british government briefing did not have an interpreter in the room or on a screen leading to a twitter campaign about the issue. the government reached an agreement to have the press conferences signed on the bbc news channel and on iplayer in response to the campaign. in response to this a petition was created by sylvia simmonds that required the government to use sign language interpreters for emergency announcements. legal firm fry law looked to commence court proceedings as they said the government had broken the equality act 2010, but also said that the government was doing the bare minimum and were crowdfunding to cover the government's legal costs if they lost. on 17 march 2020, johnson announced in a daily news conference that the government "must act like any wartime government and do whatever it takes to support our economy". progression between phases on 12 march, the government announced it was moving out of the contain phase and into the delay phase of the response to the covid-19 pandemic. the announcement said that in the following weeks, the government would introduce further social distancing measures for older and vulnerable people, and asking them to self-isolate regardless of symptoms. its announcement said that if the next stage were introduced too early, the measures would not protect at the time of greatest risk but they could have a huge social impact. the government said that its decisions were based on careful modelling and that government measures would only be introduced that were supported by clinical and scientific evidence. the uk abandoned contact tracing on 12 march. classification of the disease from 19 march, public health england, consistent with the opinion of the advisory committee on dangerous pathogens, no longer classified covid-19 as a "high consequence infectious disease" (hcid). this reversed an interim recommendation made in january 2020, due to more information about the disease confirming low overall mortality rates, greater clinical awareness, and a specific and sensitive laboratory test, the availability of which continues to increase. the statement said "the need to have a national, coordinated response remains" and added, "this is being met by the government's covid-19 response". this meant cases of covid-19 are no longer managed by hcid treatment centres only. an editorial in the bmj questioned this decision, suggesting this was to permit healthcare staff to use "a lower level" of personal protective equipment for treating patients. first national lockdown (march–april 2020) bond street tube station in london during the first nationwide lockdown in may 2020.the slogan "stay home, protect the nhs, save lives" was first suggested internally in a government conference call on 19 march, days before they imposed a full national lockdown. the slogan was introduced concurrently with the national lockdown imposed on 23 march, ordering the public against undergoing non-essential travel and ordering many public amenities to close. essential travel included food shopping, exercise, medical attention, and travelling for necessary work, which included those working in the healthcare, journalism, policing, and food distribution industries. to ensure that the lockdown was obeyed, all shops selling "non-essential goods", as well as playgrounds, libraries, and places of worship, were to be closed. gatherings of more than two people in public were also banned, including social events, such as weddings, baptisms and other ceremonies, but excluding funerals. the stay-at-home order was announced by the prime minister, boris johnson, in a television broadcast. it was initially expected to last at least three weeks, superseding the government's guidance for the public to go about their normal lives while remembering to wash their hands thoroughly. the "stay home" slogan appeared on the lecterns that speakers stood behind at the press conferences. it was often seen in capital letters, on a yellow background, with a red and yellow tape border. the government commissioned and broadcast millions of radio, television, newspaper and social media adverts. these were often accompanied by photographs of healthcare workers wearing personal protective equipment, including face masks. on 23 march, a 20,000-strong military task force, named the covid support force, was launched to provide support to public services and civilian authorities. two military operations — operation rescript and operation broadshare — commenced to address the outbreak within the united kingdom and its overseas territories. uk government advisory sms message, 24 march 2020 on 24 march, all major mobile telephony providers, acting upon a government request, sent out an sms message to each of their customers, with advice on staying isolated. this was the first ever use of the facility. although the government in 2013 endorsed the use of cell broadcast to send official emergency messages to all mobile phones, and has tested such a system, it has never actually been implemented. backer toby harris said the government had not yet agreed upon who would fund and govern such a system. the daily telegraph reported that ministers had discussed but been divided on banning international arrivals from countries most affected by covid-19 (particularly iran, the united states) altogether in march 2020. in early 2021, home secretary priti patel said that she had advocated for uk borders to be closed at the time. on 27 march, johnson said he had contracted coronavirus and was self-isolating, and that he would continue to lead the government's response to coronavirus through video conference. on the evening of 5 april the prime minister was admitted to hospital for tests. the next day he was moved to the intensive care unit at st thomas' hospital, and first secretary of state dominic raab deputised for him. on 5 april 2020, hancock warned that all outdoor exercise in england could be banned in response to covid-19 if people did not follow social distancing rules, saying: "so my message is really clear. if you don't want us to have to take the step to ban exercise of all forms outside of your own home then you've got to follow the rules and the vast majority of people are following the rules." lifting the first lockdown and regional restrictions (april–september 2020) in mid-april, a member of the cabinet told the telegraph that there was no exit plan yet. several members of the british government stated that it was not possible to draw up a definitive plan on how to exit lockdown as it is based on scientific advice. in april, the scottish government published plans to pursue a zero-covid