LONDON, Oct 1 — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government is not trying to scare people with Covid-19 restrictions but simply to move early in an attempt to limit the potential economic damage of a much more serious outbreak, a minister said today.

"We’re not really trying to scare people,” Environment Secretary George Eustice told Talk Radio. "What we’re attempting to do through this is to act early, and in a targeted way in response to local outbreaks.”

"We’re trying to strike this ... difficult balance of acting early in a targeted way rather than waiting for the disease to get fully out of control,” he added. — Reuters