As cases of the virus spread to and took hold in more European countries, many followed the earlier examples of China and Italy and began instituting policies of lockdown. Notable among these were Ireland (where schools were closed in mid March for the rest of the month, and limits were set on sizes of meetings), Spain (where a lockdown was announced on 14 March), Czech Republic, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Poland, Turkey and France, while the United Kingdom noticeably lagged behind in adopting such measures.