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People in England should work from home “if they can” to reduce the social mix and slow the spread of the virus, Michael Gove has said.
And plans to have spectators at sports matches would be “paused,” the Cabinet Office minister told BBC Breakfast.
It occurs when pubs, bars, restaurants and other hospitality venues in England are told to have a closing time of 10pm starting on Thursday.
Full details will be established by the prime minister in Parliament later.
Boris Johnson will meet with the Prime Ministers of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and address the nation in a live broadcast at 20:00 BST on Tuesday.
In addition to the anticipated closing time for hospitality venues, it is expected to announce that they will be restricted by law to table service only.
In July, the prime minister said that people should “start going back to work now if they can” and last month the government launched a campaign to encourage workers to return to offices.
Gove told BBC Radio 4’s Today show: “We are emphasizing that if your workplace is safe to work, if you are in a Covid safe workplace, then you should be there if your job requires it.
“But if you can work from home, you should.”
When asked if it was a change of advice, Gove replied, “Yes.”
The new message aligns England with Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, which have advised people to work from home whenever possible during the pandemic.
But Gove told BBC Breakfast that the country “would not go back to the kind of measures we had in the spring” when strict measures were imposed.
Plans for the return of the sport to live audiences from October 1 in England were also being halted “for the time being” due to the risk of fans mixing on the way to the stadium or during halftime, Gove added.
Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer said a second national lockdown would be “a sign of government failure, not an act of God.”
“It would take a huge toll on people’s physical and mental health and on the economy. We need a national effort to avoid a national shutdown,” he told the Labor Party conference, which is being held virtually.
‘The government says the risk has changed’
Do you remember all those things a few weeks ago about going back to the office?
Well, don’t. Or at least don’t unless you have to.
The government says it is changing course in its guide to England because the risk has shifted, and so it also wants pubs to close early.
There has been a passionate discussion among ministers about how far to go with these measures – some want the prime minister to go further, faster – others urging moderation.
It illustrates the central dilemma here: calibrating a sufficient response to a still dangerous virus, while protecting freedoms and minimizing economic ravages.
On Monday, the UK’s Covid-19 alert level moved to 4, which means that transmission is “high or increasing exponentially.”
The government’s top scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, warned that there could be 50,000 new coronavirus cases a day by mid-October without further action, which, he said, could lead to more than 200 deaths a day by mid-November.
However, deaths remain low at the moment, with the Office for National Statistics reporting that the coronavirus accounted for only 1% of deaths in England and Wales in the week to 9/11.
But this week also marks the first time that deaths have increased rather than decreased since early April, and there are fears that the increase in the number of patients at the hospital will lead to more deaths.
‘A disconnect between scientists and ministers’
First it was the scientists, now it is the turn of the ministers.
On Monday, the government’s two top coronavirus advisers, Professor Chris Whitty and Sir Patrick Vallance, established the scale of the problem. Today, the ministers are presenting the solution.
The scientists’ warning was dire: the UK could see 50,000 cases by mid-October, up from less than 4,000 a day on average today.
The government’s response? So far, what we’ve heard about government policy for England is that pubs will have to close early and that you should work from home if you can (although more restrictions may be announced later).
There seems to be a disconnect between the two groups. Why?
Some experts have described the 50,000 figures as implausible. France and Spain, who are a few weeks ahead of us, are nowhere near that trajectory. What’s more, the rule of six introduced last week hasn’t had a chance to have an impact.
Many believe that what we are seeing now is a natural upward drift: society has reopened and it is the time of year when respiratory viruses circulate the most.
So why so much pessimism? There are three ways of looking at it. First of all, that we are really on the verge of an explosion of cases (after all, they are the experts and have access to all the data).
Second, they are concerned (some argue that unnecessarily given hospital cases are still low) and they are softening the public for more restrictions. The other is that they are trying to influence behavior so that more draconian restrictions are not needed.
He will tell you how far the prime minister goes this afternoon.
Professor Calum Semple, an expert in outbreak medicine at the University of Liverpool, told BBC Breakfast that the current data was “tracking the worst case quite accurately.”
He said there was now an increase in hospital admissions, even among women in their 20s to 40s, who were at risk of exposure to the virus because of their hospitality work, caregiving roles or because they were parents of school-age children.
The UK needed “a lot more” restrictions to prevent the spread, and the hospitality industry will probably have to take another “hit”, said Professor Semple.
But the industry has warned that the new rules will be “absolutely devastating” for pubs and restaurants, leaving some companies unable to cover their costs.
Andy Wood, CEO of Adnams Brewery, told the Today show that the pub industry had “taken health messages seriously” and that it seemed “incongruous” to be singled out.
He said the industry was still “alive” and around 900,000 jobs were at risk.
New measures against the spread of the virus are being implemented in the nations and regions of the UK:
- More restrictions will also be announced in Scotland on Tuesday.
- Restrictions for households to mix indoors will be extended to all of Northern Ireland from 6pm
- Also starting at 6pm, four more counties in South Wales will face new measures, including a 11pm curfew for pubs and bars.
- New measures will also take effect in Lancashire, Merseyside, parts of the Midlands and West Yorkshire
- Other areas of England, Scotland and Wales are already under local lockdown, with restrictions including a ban on mixing with other households.
The cabinet met Tuesday morning and Boris Johnson is also chairing an emergency Cobra meeting, which was attended by the prime ministers of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Speaking about the new closing times, a spokesperson for No. 10 said: “We know this will not be easy, but we must take more steps to control the resurgence of virus cases and protect the NHS.”
There are already stricter restrictions on pub and restaurant opening hours in parts of the North East and North West of England and Wales.
On Monday, another 4,368 daily cases and 11 deaths were reported in the UK.
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