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Pubs, bars and restaurants in England will be ordered to close at 10pm every night starting tomorrow under strict restrictions to be announced by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in a bid to curb the rapid rise in coronavirus cases.
Johnson will use a speech to the nation to outline new measures to stop the spread of Covid-19, which will also restrict the hospitality sector to table service only.
It will emphasize the need for people to follow social distancing guidelines, cover their faces and wash their hands regularly, and reportedly urge people to work from home where it doesn’t hurt business.
Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove said people should now work from home if they can, in an effort to “restrict” the social mix as much as possible.
“If people can work from home, they should,” he told BBC Breakfast.
Gove was unable to say how long the new coronavirus measures are expected to last.
“What we hope is that we can take appropriate measures now, which means that if we can defeat the virus, in the future we can progressively relax them.”
It comes after the government’s top scientific and medical advisers painted a grim picture of how 200 or more people in the UK could die every day in mid-November if the current rate of infection is not stopped.
Patrick Vallance, speaking alongside Professor Chris Whitty yesterday, said that “the vast majority of the population remains susceptible” to contracting the coronavirus and that the current situation requires swift action to reduce the number of cases.
The four UK medical directors then recommended raising the Covid-19 alert level from three to four, the second highest, indicating that “the epidemic is in general circulation; transmission is high or increasing exponentially.”
Johnson will chair meetings of his cabinet and COBRA emergency committee, including the leaders of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and is expected to address parliament at 12.30pm before a televised address at 8pm.
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A spokesperson for Number 10 said: “No one underestimates the challenges that the new measures will pose for many individuals and businesses.
“We know this will not be easy, but we must take more steps to control the resurgence of virus cases and protect the NHS.”
The new restrictions provoked the ire of the hospitality industry, and Kate Nicholls, UK Hospitality CEO, described them as “another devastating blow” for many companies.
“A difficult shutdown is bad for business and bad for controlling the virus; we need to allow time for people to disperse for a longer period,” he said.
“Table service has been widely adopted in some parts of the industry since the reopening, but it is not necessary in all businesses, such as coffee shops.
“It is difficult to understand how these measures are the solution to combat the disease when government data shows that only 5% of infections outside the home are related to hospitality.”
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said the new rules “would feel like a step backward” and urged the government to fix the track and trace system and help the hotel industry.
He said: “The prime minister must also financially help bars and restaurants that will inevitably lose business. After people have already been through so much hardship, we cannot allow thousands of jobs to disappear overnight.”
By mid-September, around 3,000 new cases were reported every day in the UK, and if growth continued unabated, 50,000 cases would occur by mid-October, Vallance said.
He warned that “the 50,000 cases per day are expected to lead a month later, bringing in mid-November, say, more than 200 deaths per day.”
“So the challenge is to make sure that the doubling time doesn’t stay at seven days.”
Professor Whitty suggested that reducing social contacts was a key way to curb the spread, but recognized that a balance had to be struck in terms of protecting the economy.
He suggested that science would eventually “come to our rescue,” but “in this period of the next six months, I think we have to realize that we have to take this, collectively, very seriously.”
Labor leader Keir Starmer accused the government of having lost control of the coronavirus crisis, saying “there should be nothing inevitable in a second lockdown.”
As Johnson prepares for new restrictions to take effect to address a surge in Covid-19 cases, Starmer used a speech at his party’s conference to say that if Labor would be constructive and need the Tory government to succeed, too criticized the testing system.
“But instead of controlling it, the government has lost control. Our testing system collapsed just when we needed it most,” he said.
Starmer has said that the “incompetence” of the Boris Johnson government “is holding Britain back.”
The Labor leader told the party’s virtual conference that he wants to build a nation “in which we put family first,” adding: “I think Britain has a lot to do yet. And it makes me angry that this government is holding us back.
“I have tried to be constructive. I appreciate that these are unprecedented times and that governing is difficult. I have tried to be fair, to give the Government the benefit of the doubt.
“But now, with one of the highest death rates in the world and on the threshold of one of the deepest recessions in the world, I am afraid there is no question.
“The incompetence of this government is holding Britain back.”
Starmer has blamed the “underfunding of the NHS” and the “abandonment of welfare” by conservatives for failing to prepare the nation for the coronavirus crisis.
The Labor leader told the party’s virtual conference: “First, if you neglect your public services, you won’t be ready when a crisis hits. No one blames the government for the virus.
“But the lack of funding from the NHS, the neglect of social care and the lack of investment in prevention – all of this is under their control. It all depends on them.
“And it always ends like this with conservative governments: Public services are neglected, cut back and left in decline. For a party called the Conservative Party, they don’t seem to keep much.
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