Alockdown (/ˈlɒkˌdaʊn/ ⓘ) is a restriction policy for people, community or a country to stay where they are, usually due to specific risks that could possibly harm the people if they move and interact freely.
The term is used for a prison protocol that usually prevents people, information or objects from leaving an area. The protocol can usually only be initiated by someone in a position ofauthority.[1]
A lockdown can also be used to protect people inside a facility or, for example, a computing system, from a threat or other external event. In buildings doors leading outside are usually locked so that no person may enter or exit.
Lockdowns may be adopted as a preventative measure or in response to a crisis as an emergency measure.
Apreventive lockdown is a preemptive action plan implemented to address an unusual scenario or a weakness in system to preempt any danger to ensure the safety and security of people, organisation and system. The focus for preventive actions is to avoid dangers and risks arising from the nonconformity to the normal circumstances, but also commonly includes improvements in efficiency.
Preventive lockdowns are preemptive lockdowns to mitigate risk. Most organisations plan for the emergency lockdowns but fail to plan for other situations that might quickly degrade to dangerous levels. These protocols must be based on the type of threat, and should be kept simple and short for quick learning and implementation, and flexible enough to handle several scenarios. This allows administrators more options to choose from which are easier to use in various scenarios. For example, in case of a loud scene by a parent or an unarmed petty thief being chased by the police through the school playground, this flexible procedure allows school administrators the flexibility to implement a more limited lockdown while teaching in school continues, thus eliminating need for complete emergency lockdown, disruption and delays in resumption of teaching, etc. The consequences of not having procedures to implement such lockdowns is that the situation might quickly escalate where there could be loss of human lives.[2]
Emergency lockdowns are implemented when there is imminent threat to the lives or risk of injury to humans, for example, a school's emergency lockdown procedures must be kept short and simple to make them easier to use under real life crisis conditions. Simple procedures can be easily taught with periodic lockdown drills instead of lengthy training.[2]
Both preventative and emergency lockdowns can be adopted for similar goals. They may be use for security purposes to reduce the number of people on the street to allow police to conduct rescue missions afternatural disasters. They may be used inpublic health emergencies, such as Ebola and COVID-19, to prevent air-borne diseases from spreading and they may be used ascounterinsurgency measures to prevent local populations mixing with insurgents so that governments can conduct military missions against the insurgents.[3] They may also be used inpolice emergencies, as in school shootings or hostage situations.
Lockdowns can limit movements or activities in a community while allowing most organizations to function normally, or limit movements or activities such that only organizations supplying basic needs and services can function normally.[4]
A lockdown was implemented inMexico from April 30 to May 5, 2009 in response to the2009 swine flu pandemic.[5]
During theCOVID-19 pandemic, the term lockdown was used for actions related to massquarantines or stay-at-home orders.[6] The first lockdown during the pandemic was implemented inWuhan on January 23, 2020.[7] By early April 2020, 3.9 billion people worldwide were under some form of lockdown—more than half theworld's population.[8][9] By late April, around 300 million people were under lockdown in European countries, while around 200 million people were under lockdown in Latin America.[10] Nearly 300 million people, or about 90 per cent of the population, were under some form of lockdown in the United States,[11] and 1.3 billion people have been underlockdown in India.[12]
The lockdown in the Philippines started on 14 March 2020 and is one of the longest and strictest lockdowns with varying levels ofcommunity quarantine being imposed on all major islands and cities.[13][14] Similarly the lockdown in South Africa started on 27 March 2020[15] and progressed through various levels. It is also one of the strictest lockdowns in the world with cigarettes and alcohol banned throughout.[16]
Lockdown procedures vary by site and country. Generally, a lockdown means that interior and exterior doors are locked, and all students and staff must remain in their location from the time the lockdown is announced. In some locations, windows are covered, and students stand at the back of the classroom or away from windows.
Since theColumbine shooting in 1999 and theSeptember 11, 2001 attacks, lockdown procedures in schools have been changing. Some schools direct teachers to continue with standard procedures while remaining quiet, while some recommend an active approach against threats.[17]
In prisons, the termlockdown can be defined as a course of action to control the movement of inmates. Confining all prisoners, except workers, to their cells until the end of the day is an example of a "lockdown period" in a corrections schedule.[citation needed] However a "full lockdown" is used when all prisoners are locked in their cells to preventprison riots or unrest from spreading or during an emergency.[18]
In US guidelines, occasions for preventing entry into a hospital may include:power failure,earthquake,flooding,fire,bomb threat,hostage crisis andactive shooter.[19][20] Occasions for preventing both entry and exit from a hospital may include: external contamination,civil disturbance andabduction of an infant or child.[19][20]
Inmanufacturing, the termlockdown event refers to acontinuous improvement initiative in which manufacturing in a specific area (typically a cell or specific piece of machinery) is halted in order to contain, and determine, what are the issues that are preventing the manufacture of goods from meetingquality specifications. During thelockdown event a multi-disciplinary team reviews the specific area's manufacturing processes, tooling and machine condition, to find the root cause(s) of the problem(s). Once changes to the process, or machine repairs that may include adjustments or replacement are effected, a sample run is initiated and evaluated. If the results of thevalidation are within the required specifications, the area lockdown is lifted and production is resumed. Follow-up sampling is conducted subsequently to ensure continuity of the lockdown results.
 | This articleappears to beslanted towards recent events. Please try to keep recent events in historical perspective andadd more content related to non-recent events.(March 2020) |
In the wake of theSeptember 11 attacks (2001), a three-day lockdown of Americancivilianairspace was initiated.
At theUniversity of British Columbia (UBC) on January 30, 2008, an unknown threat was made, and theRoyal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) issued a lockdown order on one of the buildings on campus for six hours, cordoning off the area. A campus alert was sent via email to everyone affiliated with UBC, while those in the building remained locked in it.[21][22][23]
On April 10, 2008, two Canadiansecondary schools were locked down due to suspected firearm threats.George S. Henry Academy was locked down inToronto,Ontario at approximately 2:00 p.m.[24] TheETF were contacted and the lockdown lasted for more than two hours.New Westminster Secondary School was locked down inNew Westminster,British Columbia at approximately 1:40 p.m.[25] TheEmergency Response Team (ERT) was called, and the school was under lockdown until 4:30 p.m. Due to the size of the school some students were not able to leave until 7:00 p.m.
On April 19, 2013, the entire city ofBoston, US was locked down and all public transportation stopped during the manhunt for terrorists Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the perpetrators of theBoston Marathon bombing, while the town ofWatertown was under heavily armed police and SWAT surveillance, and systematic house-to-house searches were carried out.[26][27][28]
In Belgium, its capitalBrussels was locked down in 2015 for days while security services sought suspects involved with theNovember 2015 Paris attacks. Later in 2015, a terror threat caused the2015 Los Angeles Unified School District closure.
In August 2019, the Indian government imposed alockdown on Jammu and Kashmir after the revocation of the special status of the state,[29] bycommunications andmedia blackout, claiming that the lockdown was to curb terrorism.[30]
According toMerriam-Webster, the first known use of lockdown occurred in 1973, referring to the confinement of prisoners.[31]
Tracking usage changes through events reported up to 1999 inThe New York Times:[32]
The dictionary definition oflockdown at Wiktionary