Coronavirus: Mobile networks send ‘stay at home’ text

For the first time in history, all UK mobile networks are sending a government coronavirus alert to their customers outlining new shutdown measures. O2 is dispatching its messages in batches and stated it might take until 22:00 GMT to complete. This mass alert was made possible through collaboration between the government and the operators. A seven-year-old emergency alert system was never actually implemented, if it had been, the government could have sent messages directly to all UK mobile phones.