Too many shoppers?
SCORES of shoppers descended on Newcastle city centre on the first weekend after lockdown, raising concerns about the spread of coronavirus.
Non-essential shops were allowed to reopen after the national lockdown ended on Wednesday and the North East was placed under the highest tier level of alert.
And many took the opportunity to do some Christmas shopping on Saturday and Sunday, with Newcastle’s Northumberland Street packed at times.
Photos of the thronging city centre were shared on social media, with reports that some shops may have run out of hand sanitiser and
not everybody may have been social-distancing.
Newcastle Central MP Chi Onwurah was among those who raised concerns. Sharing a photo taken on
Saturday afternoon of a busy Northumberland Street, she wrote on Twitter: “I am very concerned by photos like this and though I wasn’t on Northumberland Street yesterday, one of the city centre stores I went into had run out of hand sanitiser for those entering.
“I am sure that @NewcastleCC & @northumbriapol will be reviewing the situation.”
Others commented on the fact that spectators were not allowed to attend grassroots football matches but hundreds of people were allowed to go shopping “surrounded by strangers”.
One man wrote on Twitter: “If non-league football made lots of money for the Government they would have had fans in well before now. Only doing things to suit their own pockets. You’re safer at a nonleague game than at shops, supermarkets and high streets.”
Another said: “Absolute joke. These rules are truly baffling.”
However Newcastle City Council says members of the public complied with Covid guidance on the whole. A council spokesperson said: “The city centre was busy over the weekend but on the whole the public have complied with Covid guidelines.
“Streets are constantly monitored by CCTV and we have plans in place should we become concerned.
“Multi-agency meetings are taking place daily to review the situation and the weekend will be reviewed tomorrow in line with normal practice.
“We have had 10 street marshalls on duty along with a team from NE1 to remind people where necessary of the ‘hands, face, space’ rules, and it is the responsibility of retailers to ensure they have hand sanitisers in their stores. We will remind stores of this but if anyone has any concerns they can email psr@newcastle.gov.uk and we will look into it.”