Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Priti Unnecessary
£800 fines for party-goers who flout the rules but expert warns harsh move ‘breeds distrust’
PEOPLE attending illegal house parties will face an £800 fine from next week as lockdown enforcement measures are toughened up.
The fine will double with every breach of the rule banning gatherings of more than 15 people in England, to a maximum of £6,400 each.
Home Secretary Priti Patel announced the fine as part of a crackdown.
She warned: “If you don’t follow these rules, police will enforce them. These grievous breaches are costing lives.”
But a public health expert warned taking a “blaming approach” in a bid to increase compliance could backfire at a time when tensions are already high.
Prof Linda Bauld of Edinburgh University said: “The vast majority of people are following the rules. So a punitive approach when we’re in such a crisis just breeds distrust and I think fragments society even more when we’re dealing with such a difficult situation.”
Organisers of illegal mass gatherings already face fines up to £10,000.
Data shows people in England are far more active in the current lockdown than in the first one last spring.
Martin Hewitt of the National Police Chiefs Council said officers will no longer “waste time” trying to reason with those “selfishly putting lives at risk” by flouting lockdown rules, who would now face stiff penalties instead.
The crackdown came as 1,290 people died with coronavirus yesterday, bringing the UK total to 94,580.
In a further bid to cut infections, international arrivals could be forced to wear electronic tags for 10 days to ensure they stick to quarantine. Ministers are also understood to be looking at putting arrivals into hotel selfisolation, as happens for visitors to Australia and New Zealand.
They have considered making them download a locationtracking app to monitor their movements.
Meanwhile, plans to pay everyone in
A punitive approach when we’re in such a crisis fragments society more PROFESSOR LINDA BAULD PUBLIC HEALTH EXPERT
England £500 if they get coronavirus, to encourage self-isolation, were leaked last night. Millions have missed out on the current £500 Test and Trace Support Payment because claimants must be in work, unable to work from home and on certain benefits, and apply to their council.
Fears the lockdown could last until summer increased as Boris Johnson said it was “too early to say” when restrictions would be lifted.
The Prime Minister, who previously claimed life could be back to normal by Easter, struck an unusually cautious tone amid concerns over the new variants. Downing Street also refused to rule out keeping lockdown measures in place in England until the summer. Government scientific advisers said some restrictions will need to stay in place until at least late spring to avoid a devastating third wave. Marc Baguelin of Imperial College London said: “The most optimistic [scenario] is to start having some relaxation in May.”
Prof Matt Keeling of Warwick University said: “If we completely relaxed all measures we could get a very large-scale outbreak.”
Northern Ireland extended its lockdown for a further four weeks, with curbs including school closures and working from home not expected to be lifted until Easter.
Downing Street said restrictions could only be eased once transmission rates have fallen, pressure on the NHS has eased and the vaccine roll-out is well under way. But the Government was under pressure from
Tory MPS to publish a plan on relaxing measures.
Mark Harper, chairman of the Covid Recovery Group, said: “People must see light at the end of the tunnel and feel hope for the future, and businesses need to be able to plan our recovery.”
The NHS is vaccinating 200 people a minute, with 5.4 million first and second jabs given so far.
More than three quarters of major hospital trusts in England currently have more Covid-19 patients than at the peak of the first wave, latest figures show. Some 115 out of 140 acute NHS trusts were recording a higher number of patients on January 19 than at any point between midmarch and the end of May 2020.