Yes, speaking to my friend yesterday and his parents live in France - they need the bit of paper too.
I've just heard on the radio that in London and Manchester, public transport is operating at 35% of typical volumes still. In Paris, Madrid etc. it is more like 0 - 5%.
To be honest, I'm not sure case rates are particularly relevant due to the differences in testing rates from country to country. The key metric is death rate and we look to be mirroring Italy fairly closely on that. Of course Italy did impose quarantine on some towns quite quickly, whereas we have not so I would not be surprised if our death trajectory ends up being steeper than theirs.