Image

10pm nightlife ban in new bid to curb virus

10pm nightlife ban in new bid to curb virus

10pm nightlife ban in new bid to curb virus

Pubs, bars and restaurants throughout England will be forced to close at 10pm from Thursday – while the Prime Minster’s ‘back to work’ message is also set to be scrapped.

The measures will be set out by Boris Johnson in the Commons today (Tuesday) before he addresses the nation in a live broadcast at 8pm.

The news comes as the UK’s Covid-19 alert level has been moved to 4 – meaning transmission is “high or rising exponentially”.

The PM is set to announce that pubs, bars and restaurants in England will be forced to close by 10pm amid a sharp spike in coronavirus cases and is also expected to say the hospitality sector will be restricted to table service only.

He will set out to the public further ways in which the virus can be confronted, including by following social distancing guidelines, wearing face coverings and washing hands, while also, according to newspaper reports, urging people to work from home where it does not negatively impact businesses.

Last month, workers were urged to stop working from home if they could, but Michael Gove said this morning there would now be “shift of emphasis”, also revealing the target for 80 per cent of civil servants to be in the office had been ditched.

“If it is possible for people to work from home, then we would encourage them to do so,” the cabinet office minister said.

Mr Gove said ministers now believed they needed to “balance” the need for schools to remain open with curtailing other activity to “try to reduce the virus”.

That was why “if we can limit or appropriately restrain social contact, that is what we’re trying to do,” he told Sky News.

He also confirmed that planned trials to allow the phased return of limited crowds to sporting events from next month had been scrapped.

Contact Gi National
Email us: news@gi-media.co.uk

administrator