Ministers change their minds on Covid restrictions

There is more than one ‘rule of 6’. Who knows?

It’s what a legendary Hollywood movie editor used to best describe when making a must-see movie, mixing six different elements like emotion and space (his name is Walter Murch, if you’re looking for trivia).

The other ‘rule of 6’ is part of the code governing corporate acquisitions, more familiar to City attorneys. In fact, you may have your own obscure examples.

But the ministers hope that now the new rule of 6 of the government will very quickly get acquainted with the country and immediately change the behavior of the people as well.

As of Monday, it will be illegal in England, in addition to school or work or under a few other exceptions, to meet more than five people at a time.

The police will have the power to prevent that from happening; You can read exactly how the new restrictions will work here.

After weeks in which the government has been trying to encourage the country back to office, urging students to go back to school and taking steps to reverse coronavirus restrictions, it’s a change of tone, a change of pace. and a change of mind.

The prime minister also publicly acknowledged, after many weeks of questions about the layers of anomalies and the different rules and regulations, that the complicated messages had made the rules difficult for people to follow.

Boris Johnson can hope that the public in England will be willing to follow a new and clearer instruction. But it is not obvious that all the public will comply.

However, the reason for the change, as we discussed yesterday, is very clear.

The number of cases has started to rise, and is increasing rapidly, and ministers want to halt.

The new rule is a significant move and it is clear that it could mean limits in our lives for many months to come. The prime minister acknowledged today that even Christmas may not be very normal.

The changes are designed to prevent the disease from reappearing and to stop the need for another full national lockdown, something the government is desperate to avoid.

Opening hours

But other measures also wait behind the scenes.

At the bottom of the government guidance issued today, there is a paragraph that sounds technical rather bland:

“The government will restrict the opening hours of the premises, initially in areas of local confinement, with the option of national action in the future. This has been introduced in Bolton, following a sharp increase in cases, and will seek to restrict activities that may lead to the spread of the virus. ”

In other words, if the increase in cases does not slow down, the government could impose a national curfew on opening hours, a more radical step.

Government sources emphasize that this will not happen.

But in presenting the option, it is clear that the ‘rule of 6’ could be followed by more radical steps.