Covid 19 coronavirus: UK introduces curfews and work restrictions after new virus spike

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson plans to announce new restrictions on social interactions on Tuesday, as the government tries to stem the spread of Covid-19 before it spirals out of control.

Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove told Sky News that pubs and restaurants across England will be ordered to close at 10 p.m. job.

Gove said reducing the “social mix” was key to slowing the spread of the virus. He said it was impossible to say how long the restrictions would be in place.

“What we hope is that we can take the appropriate measures now, which means that if we manage to fight the virus, in the future we will be able to gradually relax them,” Gove told the BBC.

“But what I can’t do is predict with absolute certainty.”

The prime minister will release more details when he addresses the House of Commons around 12:30 pm (1130 GMT) after meeting with the cabinet and the government’s COBRA emergency committee. Later he will give a televised address to the nation.

Plans for spectators to return to sports arenas are also likely to be suspended as part of the new restrictions.

The news comes a day after the British government’s top scientific and medical advisers said coronavirus infections were doubling every seven days and could rise to 49,000 a day by mid-October if nothing is done to stem the tide.

On Monday, the government reported 4,300 new confirmed cases, the highest number since May.

The UK has gradually increased restrictions as cases increase, including a ban on people from gathering in large groups. But the measures are likely to be far less stringent than the national shutdown imposed in March that confined most of the population and shuttered most businesses.

The lockdown eased starting in June when cases began to drop, but that trend has now been reversed.

Some lawmakers in the ruling Conservative Party are uneasy about the move to tighten restrictions on business and daily life, citing the impact on an already reeling economy and the restriction of civil liberties.

Employers and workers in hotel companies are also concerned.

Kate Nicholls, chief executive of trade body UKHospitality, said the planned restrictions were “another crushing blow” for many companies.

But most epidemiologists believe that the restrictions are again necessary.

The chief medical officers of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland on Monday raised the UK virus alert from three to four, the second highest, on the recommendation of the Joint Center for Biosafety.

They said that Covid-19 cases were increasing “rapidly and probably exponentially.”

In a live televised briefing, Scientific Director Patrick Vallance and Medical Director Chris Whitty said that after new confirmed cases slowly increased over the summer, the number is now doubling every seven days.

In other countries, such an increase has soon led to an increase in deaths, Whitty said.

Whitty emphasized that infection rates are increasing among all age groups, and infections among the young and healthy will inevitably spread to friends, family, and ultimately the most vulnerable in society.

“This is not anyone else’s problem,” he said. “This is our whole problem.”

While death rates remain relatively low so far, Whitty cautioned that deaths are likely to rise. The UK reported a seven-day average of 21 deaths per day last week, compared with a peak of 942 deaths on April 10.

To persuade people to stay home if they test positive, the government announced that it would pay low-income workers £ 500 if they are told to self-isolate for 14 days. He also said that those who break quarantines could face fines of up to £ 10,000.

Britain has the highest death toll in Europe from the pandemic, with more than 41,800 deaths, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

Experts say that all of these figures underestimate the true impact of the pandemic.

The rise in infection rates in the UK comes as lawmakers across the political spectrum have criticized the Conservative government’s testing program.

While ministers tout the record number of tests being done, there are widespread reports of people having to travel hundreds of miles for tests or having tests voided because labs take too long to process.

An app aimed at beefing up virus contact tracing efforts will launch this week after months of delay.

– AP