A stick that has been used very lightly, and with a current lockdown that is far from rigorous. I agree that compliance has fallen, as is hardly surprising when a sprint has become a marathon - but that does not make what is happening now a case of heavy handedness or use of the stick. Oh, and there is a carrot - that the incidence of Covid is low enough that the need for restrictions is removed.
"I'll stop hitting you with the stick if you achieve this thing that may not be within the power of humans to control" - I'd say that is not really a carrot.