London Mayor Sadiq Khan said “different households cannot mix inside.”
London:
Some nine million people in the British capital are facing stricter coronavirus restrictions due to a growing number of cases, London Mayor Sadiq Khan said on Thursday.
“It is my expectation that the government will announce today that London will soon move to level two, or the high alert level of restrictions,” he told the London Assembly.
“This would mean that different London homes could not be mixed indoors,” he added, as London MPs said the restrictions would take effect from midnight on Friday.
Khan and his main opposition Labor party have been pressuring the government to impose stricter restrictions as a second wave of infection takes hold, particularly in northern England.
Labor leader Keir Starmer has called on Prime Minister Boris Johnson to order a two-week “circuit breaker” lockdown to reduce skyrocketing transmission rates.
On Wednesday, nearly 20,000 new positive cases were recorded across the UK, while the death toll, 137, was in triple digits for the second day in a row.
But Johnson is resisting another national lockdown, warning of the dire economic and social consequences of even a short-term repeat of the three-month stay-at-home order imposed in March.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock was scheduled to report the latest situation to parliament as of 1030 GMT, after government meetings with local leaders from across the country.
Khan said London is facing a “critical moment”. “The virus is spreading rapidly in all corners of our city,” he told assembly members at City Hall.
“We will soon reach an average of 100 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, with a significant number of districts already exceeding that threshold.
“Hospital admissions have risen, more patients are being admitted to intensive care units, and sadly the number of Londoners dying every day is increasing again.”
The mayor said the move was based on “expert scientific and public health advice,” and called for more financial support to help businesses, services and people affected by curbs.
Johnson’s preferred approach is a three-tier alert system based on infection rates. Liverpool, in the North West of England, is currently the only place at the highest alert level.
However, England’s medical director has said he was not confident that the measures, which include closing bars and other restrictions on domestic mixing, will be effective.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
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