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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.
The Cabinet Office minister also told the BBC that trials of spectators at sports matches would be “paused”.
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.
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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 orientation for 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 wanting 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.
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.
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.
On Monday, another 4,368 daily cases and 11 deaths were reported in the UK. Too:
- More restrictions will also be announced in Scotland on Tuesday.
- Restrictions for homes to mix indoors will be extended to all of Northern Ireland.
- Also starting at 6pm on Tuesday, four more counties in South Wales will face new measures, including a 11pm curfew for pubs and bars.
- The new measures will also go into effect in Lancashire, Merseyside, parts of the Midlands and West Yorkshire from Tuesday.
- 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 will also chair an emergency Cobra meeting, which will be 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.
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