[nomadking]

What a lockdown should achieve is a reduction in the number of active cases out there, so when it is relaxed or ended there is less opportunity for it spread widely again. Those not able, or more likely unwillingly to follow lockdown are the ones spreading it around. Each time it transfers from one person to another, the clock resets and starts from zero. Without transfers, after a period of X(4?) weeks it would disappear completely. With each transmission the X weeks starts again, prolonging the overall period.