ABSTRACT
Legislation is a blueprint for state strategy. Thus, the analysis of the Coronavirus Act 2020 offers an (early and abstract) insight on the way the UK prepared to counter the biosecurity crisis. Through the Act, the state fortifies public health institutions and absolves them from their responsibilities towards patients. It also bolsters the security apparatus (police and intelligence). Above all, it authorises the Executive (especially the Health Secretary) powers to legislate the measures he thinks are needed to counter the epidemic, measures that particularly target social interaction. Thus, the Act introduces a state of siege, involving augmentation of the power of the state over society; a concentration of this power at the Executive; and a suspension of civil liberties. It poses a temporary, but clear and intense, challenge to the rule of law and liberal legality.
