MASS EVENTS WILL BE BANNED
ALREADY CANCELLED ON THE CRITICAL LIST From sport to Glasto, new law will put the Great British summer on ice
‘Emergency legislation’
ALL mass gatherings and sports events are set to be banned from next weekend.
In a major escalation of the coronavirus crisis, ministers are preparing to introduce emergency legislation early next week to allow this.
The unprecedented move puts key summer events such as the Glastonbury Festival, VE Day commemorations, Chelsea Flower Show, Wimbledon tennis championships, the Grand National and Royal Ascot under threat.
It comes after sports bodies confirmed the postponement of the London Marathon, the suspension of Premier League football matches and the cancellation of the England cricket team’s Sri Lanka tour.
As the number of coronavirus cases in the UK neared 800, it also emerged that officials are talking to businesses about ways to help millions work from home. Ministers also revealed yesterday that the local elections would be postponed for a year, just a day after saying they would go ahead as planned.
Boris Johnson’s U-turn on stronger action similar to that taken in other countries came after mounting criticism from public health experts and politicians that Britain was not doing enough to keep the public safe.
Only yesterday morning, chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance said cancelling large gatherings was ‘eye- catching’ but the chances of contracting coronavirus by attending such events were smaller than a visit to the pub.
A Whitehall source denied the Government was binning its previous scientific advice, saying the change of heart reflected concerns about the pressure mass gatherings put on police and ambulance services that may be depleted because of the virus.
‘We have drafted emergency legislation to give the Government the powers it needs to deal with coronavirus, including powers to stop mass gatherings and compensate organisations,’ the source said. ‘We will publish this legislation next week.’
There is no detail about which events could be affected and how many people would make a ‘mass gathering’. In
Scotland, first minister Nicola Sturgeon has enforced a limit of 500 for a gathering.
France became one of the latest European countries to close all schools, universities and nurseries, after a similar move by Ireland, Austria and Norway on Thursday.
The UK Government said it would not move to close schools yet as the evidence for its effectiveness is lacking, although this will be kept under review. Officials revealed 798 people had tested positive for coronavirus in the UK by 9am yesterday, up from 590 on Thursday.
While the pandemic led to chaos across the world of sport from Europe to the US and the Far East, Olympic organisers remained defiant, insisting that this year’s Games in Tokyo from July 24 until August 9 will still go ahead.