The Government’s action plan of 3 March indicated that there was no intention to bring in a lockdown as strict as had been implemented in some other parts of the world. The action plan, under the heading ‘the Delay phase - next steps’ said: Action that would be considered could include population distancing strategies (such as school closures, encouraging greater home working, reducing the number of large-scale gatherings) to slow the spread of the disease throughout the population, while ensuring the country’s ability to continue to run as normally as possible.109 That approach meant that events that may have spread the virus proceeded—such as the football match between Liverpool FC and Atletico Madrid on 11 March—the day the coronavirus was categorised as a pandemic by the WHO—with a reported crowd of over 50,000110 and the Cheltenham Festival of Racing between 10 and 13 March, attracting more than 250,000 people.111 Subsequent analysis suggested that there were an additional 106 Evidence to the Science and Technology Committee in June 2020 from Professor Johan Giesecke, Former State Epidemiologist for Sweden and Professor Emeritus, Karolinska Institute, explained Sweden’s approach of a country asking individuals to change their behaviours without legislating for restrictions to be imposed. Q850 107 BBC Radio 4 Today, 13 March 2020—see Tweet by BBC Radio 4 Today (@BBCr4Today), 13/03/2020, 9.04am 108 GOV.UK, SAGE 15, 13 March 2020 109 GOV.UK, ‘Coronavirus: action plan’, accessed 17 September 2021 110 See, for example: ‘Liverpool vs Atletico Madrid: The Champions League match that should never have happened’, inews, 21 April 2020 111 ITV, ‘Coronavirus: Cheltenham festival and Liverpool Champions League game ‘likely increased suffering and death’’, 26 May 2020, accessed 2 September 2021 Coronavirus: lessons learned to date 35 37 and 41 deaths respectively at local hospitals after these events.112 However, it is not clear whether those deaths were as a result of atten