LONDON: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will tell people on Tuesday to work from home and impose new restrictions on pubs, bars and restaurants in a bid to tackle the second wave of the rapidly accelerating coronavirus outbreak.
Speaking to parliament at 1130 GMT and then to the nation at 1900 GMT, Johnson will pause shortly before a full national lockdown of the kind he imposed in March.
“We know this will not be easy, but we must take more steps to control the resurgence of virus cases and protect the NHS,” Johnson will say, according to excerpts of his comments distributed by his Downing Street office.
The measures come after senior physicians warned on Monday that Britain faced an exponentially growing death rate within weeks unless urgent action was taken.
New COVID-19 cases are increasing by at least 6,000 a day in Britain, based on week-long data, hospital admissions are doubling every eight days and the testing system is weakening.
The new curbs will restrict the hospitality industry to table service only, by law.
Just weeks after urging people to start going back to work, Johnson will advise them to work from home if they can. It will also order all pubs, bars, restaurants and other hospitality venues in England to begin closing at 10pm starting Thursday.
“One of the things we are going to emphasize is that if it is possible for people to work from home, we will encourage them to do so,” Michael Gove, the cabinet office minister, told Sky News.
“There is going to be a change of emphasis.”
While millions of people in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are already under some form of restriction, Johnson is not expected to announce a full lockdown like the one seen in March.
EMERGENCY CLOSURE?
Britain will face an exponentially rising death rate from COVID-19 unless the government acts urgently, said Chris Whitty, the government’s medical director, and Patrick Vallance, its top scientific adviser.
The UK already has the highest official death toll from COVID-19 in Europe, and the fifth largest in the world, while it is borrowing record amounts in an attempt to pump emergency money through the damaged economy.
Gove, one of Johnson’s top ministers, said there were many functions that couldn’t be performed at home, in areas from manufacturing and construction to retail.
“We obviously need to balance the need to ensure that people can continue to work, and indeed critically, continue to attend school and benefit from education, versus taking steps to try to reduce the virus, so if you limit, or properly restrict, social contact, that’s what we’re trying to do, “he said.
“Second closure begins” read the headline on the front page of the Daily Telegraph, while the Daily Mail read: “UK reversed”.
Shares of UK-listed restaurant and pub groups fell sharply on Monday in anticipation of the move. While there is no consistent policy across the country, the measure will advance closing time by at least one hour for most areas.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan said he had agreed with local council leaders and public health experts that new COVID-19 restrictions will be imposed on the central government, in an attempt to stop the outbreak in the capital.
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