[ad_1]
All pubs, restaurants and bars will be ordered to close for two weeks under the new lockdown measures being considered if COVID-19 cases continue to rise. Earlier this week, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that any new national shutdown would threaten jobs, livelihoods and human contact.
But government sources say London’s fate is “in the balance” after the capital’s mayor warned it is at a “tipping point.”
While Merseyside and other areas in the Northeast are under threat of new restrictions this week. Liverpool registered the third highest number of cases, where the rate has gone from 146.6 to 251.8, with 1,254 new cases.
Households would also be indefinitely barred from gathering anywhere inside where they are not yet under the order, according to Times reports.
Schools and shops would be allowed to remain open, along with factories and offices where staff could not work from home.
Johnson is said to have been presented with the plans last week, but rejected them out of fear of a backlash.
A senior source said: “The nation and the party were not ready for us to go further last week.
“There was not a broad enough understanding of how substantial the second wave could be.
“Unlike the first lockdown, no one has seen images of body bags in Spain or France on television yet, which had a very powerful effect. You have to take people with you.
“However, stricter measures will have to be taken on social interaction. They are unavoidable in some parts if you look at the numbers. “
It comes after Britain last week imposed new measures requiring people to work from home whenever possible and ordered restaurants and bars to close early to deal with a second wave of rapidly spreading COVID-19, with new restrictions that last probably six months.
FOLLOW EXPRESS.CO.UK BELOW FOR LIVE UPDATES
How is Boris Johnson handling the coronavirus crisis? Vote in our poll
8.22am update: government defends curfew at 10pm
Health Minister Helen Whately has defended a government curfew at 10 pm for pubs and restaurants.
She told BBC1’s Breakfast program: “As people drink more, they tend to become less socially distant. Therefore, one approach to keeping people in social distance is to limit the amount of time people spend in places. where they drink and then this breach of compliance with the rules.
“We have also seen in some of the places where there have been higher rates during the summer that sometimes the bars have been the places where there has been an outbreak so this is one reason why one of the actions we have taken is make people stop drinking sooner. “
Ms. Whately said the government cannot rule out the possibility that college students will not be able to return home for Christmas.
She said, “We want them to be home for Christmas. Everybody wants to come home and spend Christmas with the family. We want that to be the case.”
“Christmas is still a free time and it is up to all of us to get this under control so that we can spend Christmas with our families.”
8.01am update: coronavirus cases on the rise in Germany
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 1,192 on Monday compared to Sunday, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed.
The reported death toll rose by three to 9,460, the data showed.
7:50 am update: Minister of Health on neighbors breaking the rules
Health Minister Helen Whately has said that people will have to make their own judgments on whether to report on neighbors who break coronavirus rules.
She told Sky News: “Everyone will make their own judgments.
“If you see that there is a canopy in someone’s yard, there is a big party, you will probably take action on it because clearly there is a risk of spreading the virus.”
7:45 am update: second lockdown fears
Junior Health Minister Helen Whately told Sky News: “We don’t want to impose any new restrictions but of course we are keeping an eye on what is happening with the COVID rate.
“We were seeing what we could do.”
He said the government could not rule out further restrictions if coronavirus infections continued to rise.
“We don’t want to introduce any more restrictions but of course we are keeping an eye on what is happening with Covid fees and we have seen these upward trends in recent weeks.
“This is the moment when we have an opportunity, we have a choice as a country to get this under control again.”
“We have to break these transmission chains. This is how we lower rates again. We have seen them go up again in the last two weeks.”
[ad_2]
