LONDON (UK) – Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday will urge Britons to work from home and impose fresh curbs on pubs, bars and restaurants in a move to curbs the surge of a second round of coronavirus infections in the country.
He is slated to address parliament at 1130 GMT and then the nation at 1900 GMT and will impose curbs that fall some way short of a complete lockdown, which was imposed in March.
“We know this won’t be easy, but we must take further action to control the resurgence in cases of the virus and protect the NHS,” the prime minister will say, according to excerpts from his prepared address released by his office.
This comes after medics warned the government on Monday that the UK faced an exponentially growing fatality rate within weeks if immediate action was not taken.
The number of new daily cases are hovering around 6,000 and hospitalisations are doubling once in eight days while the testing system is heavily stretched.
The hospitality sector will have only table service once the curbs kick in.
Weeks after Britons were encouraged to return to their work places, the prime minister is telling them to once again stay at home. From Thursday, all pubs, restaurants and bars in England will be told to close at 10 pm.
“One of the things we are going to emphasise is that if it is possible for people to work from home, we are going to encourage them to do so,” Minister for the Cabinet Office Michael Gove said.
“There is going to be a shift in emphasis.”