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In view of the alarming increase in new infections with Sars-CoV-2, the London government has imposed new restrictions on Great Britain. Office workers should be able to go back to work from home, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in the lower house on Tuesday. Pubs and restaurants have to close sooner, the previously lax mask requirement in stores is now becoming mandatory.
To enforce the law, the police can also ask the military for help. “Negligence could make us fall,” warned the conservative head of government. He wanted to avoid a second confinement, but would not shy away from tougher measures if necessary.
The day before, the two main government scientists had already asked the population to do more in the fight against the corona virus. If the current trend continues, around 50,000 new cases a day could occur by mid-October, according to the grim forecast by Chief Scientific Advisor Patrick Vallance. A month later, this would result in at least 200 Covid deaths each day.
In September, the number of new infections rose steadily, reaching 4,368 on Monday. According to the Ministry of Health, the number of people who died from Covid-19 is 41,788, with the latest weekly average death of 24 people per day.
Johnson Gets Cabinet Endorsement
For the new measures, Johnson got the backing of his cabinet on Tuesday. The new restrictions had reportedly been highly controversial there until the end. Apparently influential cabinet minister Michael Gove and health department chief Matthew Hancock have long advocated for tougher action.
However, in view of the slow recovery in the economy, Finance and Interior Ministers Rishi Sunak and Priti Patel wanted as few restrictions as possible.
The Prime Minister also tried by phone to strike a broad agreement with officials from the smaller regions of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, who have drifted from focus on England for months. Welsh Prime Minister Mark Drakeford (Labor) complained over the weekend about the lack of consultations in London.
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The most important change in the package of measures for England is a radical change from the position of the previous government. In the summer, Johnson and his ministers had repeatedly encouraged citizens to return to office and retail centers in city centers, sometimes with reference to impending job losses. The fact that as many people as possible are now returning to headquarters is likely to exacerbate the crisis in the “ghost towns” that the CBI industry association talks about.
“The government does not have a clear strategy”
The closure of all pubs, bars and restaurants at 10pm on Thursday will also have an immediate impact. As a result, the battered business is losing 15 percent of sales, the restaurant association announced. The British are known to consume large amounts of alcohol again towards the end of the night.
Two reports from the stock exchange made clear the crisis in the industry: Pub chain Wetherspoon plans to lay off 450 employees at its airport branches. Up to 6,000 jobs are on the brink at Whitbread Hospitality Company.
The government’s desire to better enforce the mask requirement in closed rooms is likely to meet with the approval of retailers. Just over the weekend, an alliance of large companies, led by Tesco, Sainsbury and Boots, bitterly complained about attacks on their employees by Covid deniers. Its people are exposed to “unprecedented abuse and violence,” said Joanne Whitfield of Co-op Food.
The leader of the Labor opposition Keir Starmer promised his support to the new measures in the House of Commons, but personally criticized Johnson: “The government does not have a clear strategy.” With Johnson declaring the duration of the new restrictions to be “possibly six months,” Starmer again pointed to the looming Trouble in the labor market. According to the plans of Finance Minister Sunak, the generous payments for short-time work and support for the self-employed will end at the end of October.
