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Human behaviour innit. If everyone is told to stay in their homes now, in a week's time there would still only be a few hundred cases. Many people would take from this that it was all an overreaction and start going about their lives as normal again. Spreading fast would start again. Government says - no really, stay at home. Public - but it didn't have any effect before. etc.
There is a balance between pure epidemiological response and behavioral psychology. Going hard too early risks people not believing the seriousness and/or getting bored of the restrictions and not following them when it is most necessary.
It's not 'carrying on as normal', it's waiting for the time when each action will be most effective, in the knowledge that actions are all only going to be able to slow things so much.
I'm no fan of the government (and I'm certain they will use this to cover multiple failures elsewhere) but it seems a reasonable, expert-led process thus far.