Of course it – they – do.

With one very important difference.

We – the individuals who aren't the government – generally rely on persuasion and mutual self-interest to get what we each want (assuming neither party is dishonest) whereas the government – they – necessarily relies on force to get what it (what they) want.

Which is – in one form or another – always the same thing: Submission to its (to their) authority.

One can see this common thread running through everything the government does; the recent/current ugliness with regard to the 'Rona being an obvious example. But there are many – because everything the government does relies on the common denominator of force – the threat of murderous violence, ultimately, if we do not obey. In order to have power over us.

That is what the government is interested in.

Which fact ought to call into question the notion that government is altruistic. Such questioning might lead to examination – and exposure – of the real motives behind recent government actions, such as the "locking down" of some businesses  – the small, independently owned ones but not the big corporate ones, for instance.

What might be the self-interest of the government – of the people who constitute the government – in that case? It is doubtful it is to "stop the spread" – since it is probably true that a virus is more spreadable at large retail hubs, where many people congregate in close proximity. The real interest appears to be to conglomerate all commerce into a handful of corporate retail hubs, these being much easier to control as by setting forth common policies, which – absent the counterweight of small, independent retailers – there is no alternative to.