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P.A. Media
All pubs, bars, rest restaurants and other hospitality venues in England must be closed from 22:00 on Thursdays to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
By law this area will be restricted to table service only.
Action will be taken by the Prime Minister in Parliament before the nation is broadcast live on Tuesday at 20:00 BST.
It comes with the UK’s Covid-19 warning moving to level 4, meaning the transmission is “either low or rising fast”.
Boris Johnson also expects people to follow social distance guidelines, wear facial ingots and wash their hands regularly.
And, according to newspaper reports, it will urge people to work from home where it will not negatively affect businesses.
- How does the Covid-19 warning level system work?
- How many cases are there in your area?
Sir Patrick Vallens, the government’s chief scientific adviser, has warned that action could be taken by mid-October with 500,000 new coronavirus cases a day without further action – which he said could lead to more than 200 deaths a day in mid-November.
On Monday, a further 4,368 daily cases and 11 deaths were reported in the UK. 3,899 cases were reported on Sunday.
Even more bans will be announced in Scotland on Tuesday, while bans on indoor blended homes will be extended to all of Northern Ireland.
From 18:00 on Tuesday, four more counties in South Wales will face new measures, including a 23:00 curfew on pubs and bars.
The UK cabinet meeting will meet on Tuesday morning and will also be chaired by Boris Johnson Cobra’s emergency meeting – which will be attended by leaders from Scotland, Wales and the Northern Ireland.
Speaking about the timing of the new termination, a spokesman for 10 said: “The new measures do not underestimate the challenges that many people and businesses face.
“We know this will not be easy, but we should take further steps to control the recurrence in cases of the virus and to protect the NHS.”
There are already strict restrictions on pubs and restaurants in the north-east and parts of north-west England and Wales.
What difference does it make?
People understand what a difference it makes to close at 22:00. Combined with table service legislation, it would be little more than a negligible benefit.
But what ministers hope is that the move, along with the Six Rule enacted last week, will serve as a warning to the public that efforts to curb the virus need to be redoubled.
What remains to be seen is whether there are any other restrictions with this move.
Behind the scenes both ministers and their advisers argued what was right to do and how much the public was willing to tolerate.
It seems inevitable that the virus will continue to spread – the same respiratory virus does during the winter, especially for those where immunity is limited and there is no vaccine.
But no one knows how fast and comprehensive it is.
The risk of trying to stem the virus is that the government will soon make another decision about its next steps.
How far are ministers ready to go? Every ban that is taken has a negative effect on society.
But the nature of the virus means that Neo will undoubtedly lose as much life as it spreads. Those two harmful balances will define the next six months.
Kate Nicole, chief executive of trade body UKHospitality, said the new rules should be “applied with flexibility” and called for more support for the sector.
“Strictly approaching time is bad for business and bad for controlling the virus – we need to give people time to disperse longer,” he said.
“Table service has been widely adopted in some parts of the region since the resumption, but not necessarily in all businesses such as coffee shops.”
Michael Keele, chief executive of the Knight-Time Industries Association, said the announcement was “yet another devastating blow” and warned that it would lead to “a spate of uncontrolled events and home parties”.
Christopher Snowden, head of lifestyle economics at the Institute for Economic Affairs’ fi-market think tank, said the move “seems to have come out of a random policy generator” and called on the government to release evidence on which it was based.
“Mandatory table service has been part of a successful Swedish approach and while it may be worthwhile, the new closing time will be disastrous for the hospitality sector that was already suffering after the first lockdown.”
If Boris Johnson had ordered a year ago that he was to place the last order at the pub at 22:00, the crows would have left the tower.
But with a stern warning from the government’s top scientists on Monday, what kind of drastic measures are ministers discussing – and the extent to which many people are already living in some of our cities and towns – you’ll wonder if the Prime Minister has decided to do less Strict decisions are made.
As we have talked many times, Downing Street is well aware of the economic turmoil caused by the controls surrounding this epidemic.
Logically, therefore, he always wants to take action when he feels a sense of urgency. It is also that, when we enter the second wave, more is understood about the virus itself.
This means that the government should be able to take a more sophisticated approach to taking action nationwide rather than spreading it.
At least so far, the Prime Minister has concluded that there is a real chance that the brakes will break before taking any tougher action.
Read more from Laura.
The new measures will also be implemented in Lancashire, Merseyside, parts of the Midlands and West Yorkshire from Tuesday.
Other areas of England, Scotland and Wales are already under local lockdown, including restrictions on merging into other homes.
The Prime Minister’s announcement about the expiration date was made over the weekend by the government’s chief medical adviser, Prof. Meetings with Chris Whitty, Chancellor Ishii Sank and Health Secretary Matt Hancock have followed.
