The government has been criticised for delaying its lockdown measures after it was suggested that the faster implementation of restrictions in Ireland significantly reduced the number of deaths. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/irelands-swift-action-leaves-uk-facing-questions-over-its-coronavirus-strategy-gwpkpzq3q

Leo Varadkar, the prime minister, suspended normal life in Ireland nearly two weeks before the UK followed suit. Analysts now believe that this early message almost certainly helped to check the spread of the coronavirus.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/irelands-swift-action-leaves-uk-facing-questions-over-its-coronavirus-strategy-gwpkpzq3q

Relative to the population, Ireland is testing far more for the virus. On Saturday it processed nearly 8,000 tests, using German laboratories. The UK, which has a population ten times the size of Ireland’s, processed 18,000 https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/irelands-swift-action-leaves-uk-facing-questions-over-its-coronavirus-strategy-gwpkpzq3q