In 1663, the English enacted a quarantine on all ships bound for London requiring each to pause at the mouth of the Thames River for 40 days.

The word ‘quarantine’ was first documented in the English language, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, ‘in 1663, a period (originally of forty days) during which persons who might serve to spread a contagious disease are kept isolated from the rest of the community; especially a period of detention imposed on travellers or voyagers before they are allowed to enter a country or town, and mix with the inhabitants; commonly, the period during which a ship, capable of carrying contagion, is kept isolated on its arrival at a port.’