The UK may need local lockdowns. But can it make them work?

To keep on top of local outbreaks, the government is setting up a Joint Biosecurity Centre, an independent body made up of civil servants that will sit alongside the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE). The group will monitor the spread of coronavirus across the country and run an alert system, advising the chief medical officers of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, who in turn will advise ministers on how to deal with regional spikes in infection. How exactly the alert system will work has not yet been outlined.