It’s work from home in UK
Govt to announce new restrictions in virus fight
LONDON: The United Kingdom government is telling the public to work from home again if possible, as Prime Minister Boris Johnson prepares to announce new restrictions on bars and restaurants in a bid to halt a surge in coronavirus cases.
“If it is possible for people to work from home, then we’d encourage them to do so,” Cabinet office minister Michael Gove said on Sky News. “There is going to be a shift in emphasis.”
The new work-from-home advice comes as the government prepares to order hospitality venues across England to close by 10 pm from tomorrow, as ministers clamp down on socialising.
Johnson will consult with senior officials and the leaders of Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales at a meeting of the so-called Cobra emergency committee before briefing Parliament on further curbs. He will then make a broadcast to the nation.
“No-one underestimates the challenges the new measures will pose to many individuals and businesses,” Johnson’s office said in the email. “We know this won’t be easy, but we must take further action to control the resurgence in cases of the virus.”
Ministers are trying to strike a balance between controlling the pandemic and avoiding a full lockdown that risks snuffing out the UK economy’s recovery from the deepest recession for more than 100 years. Chief scientific adviser Patrick Vallance warned Monday that the current infection rate, at which the number of cases is doubling every week, could lead to 50,000 new cases a day by mid-october without urgent action.
Figures released Monday showed 1,261 people in England hospitalised with Covid-19, up from 782 a week earlier, with 154 of them on ventilators, up from 88. The chief medical officers for the four UK nations recommended the coronavirus alert status should rise one notch to Level 4, meaning cases are “now rising rapidly and probably exponentially.”
Senior officials have repeatedly warned interventions would be needed if infections rose, and health secretary Matt Hancock said Johnson will set out “necessary” steps to control the spread of the disease. “We can either take measures now or we will end up with a much bigger problem, still having to take measures later,” he told lawmakers Monday.
The advice for workers to head back into the office will be reversed in favour of working from home where possible. The Times said attendance at weddings may be cut to 15 guests from 30.
Johnson, already facing criticism over failures in the UK’S testing system and confused messaging over measures to stop the spread of the disease, came under renewed fire from members of his own party who want restrictions lifted to allow the economy to recover. They accused ministers of stifling debate about their plans in the House of Commons.
Pauline Latham, a Tory MP, asked Hancock to “explain to the prime minister that we actually live in a democracy not a dictatorship,” while Graham Brady, another member of Johnson’s party, warned that “political judgments are improved by debate and scrutiny.”
Hancock promised there would be a debate in Parliament and said the speed at which decisions have to be made during the pandemic means it isn’t always possible to consult lawmakers beforehand.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan called for further restrictions in the capital. — Bloomberg