England to set tough new socialising rules after virus spike

By William James

 

FILE PHOTO: People drink outside a pub at the Covent Garden shopping and dining district, amid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in London, Britain, August 2, 2020. REUTERS/Toby Melville/File Photo

 

LONDON (Reuters) - Tough new lockdown restrictions on social gatherings across the whole of England are to be announced on Wednesday as Prime Minister Boris Johnson tries to control a spike in COVID-19 infections.

 

From Sept. 14, groups of more than six people will be banned from meeting and fined if they fail to comply, Johnson will say.

 

The number of cases in Britain has begun to rise sharply again in recent days. Although testing is more widespread and the number of people in hospital is well below the peak of the outbreak, ministers fear it is beginning to slip out of control.

 

"We need to act now to stop the virus spreading," Johnson will say. "So we are simplifying and strengthening the rules on social contact - making them easier to understand and for the police to enforce."

 

The previous limit on the number of people who could socialise together was 30.

 

There were 2,460 new infections reported on Tuesday, 2,948 on Monday and 2,988 on Sunday - a sharp rise from levels of around 1,000 per day in August and attributed to high transmission among young people.

 

The new rules will not apply to workplaces or schools, and there will be exemptions for weddings, funerals and some organised team sports. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland set their own lockdown policies.

 

Nevertheless, it represent a backwards step in Britain's recovery from a pandemic that inflicted more deaths and more economic damage on the country than it did on European peers and has prompted widespread criticism of Johnson's leadership.

 

The decision will harm attempts to convince a sceptical public that it is safe to return to their workplaces - something Johnson and his ministers spent much of last week trying to do in a bid to limit the economic damage to town and city centres.

 

(Editing by Stephen Addison)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-09-09

 

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Good I hope you put some (teeth) in the consequences for non compliance we all need to stop screwing around and get this thing under control how I wish we had competent leadership here in the states.im no fan boy of Boris but on this issue I think he’s spot on good luck!

52 minutes ago, webfact said:

The new rules will not apply to workplaces or schools, and there will be exemptions for weddings, funerals and some organised team sports.

thats not how you do it, enforce shutdown of workplaces and schools, weddings, funerals, and all organized activity.

ban couples from living under the same roof, separate children from parents, many things we can do to prevent human interaction, and dont get me started on sexual interaction

Good luck with that one...

Typical government response: Crack down on the population and if it doesn't work crack down some more.

16 minutes ago, Kelsall said:

Typical government response: Crack down on the population and if it doesn't work crack down some more.

Back in March or whenever the UK government were criticised for not cracking down soon enough and not cracking down enough.

Whatever a government does there will be criticism from some quarters.

2 hours ago, webfact said:

From Sept. 14, groups of more than six people will be banned from meeting and fined if they fail to comply, Johnson will say.

But it's OK to have a group of 50 police trying to arrest those 6 people.

Wonder why the rules never apply to the police?

2 hours ago, Tug said:

Good I hope you put some (teeth) in the consequences for non compliance we all need to stop screwing around and get this thing under control how I wish we had competent leadership here in the states.im no fan boy of Boris but on this issue I think he’s spot on good luck!

You are incredibly gullible if you think this is about public safety.  

49 minutes ago, sletraveler said:

You are incredibly gullible if you think this is about public safety.  

What I always find incredibly gullible are the people who are fooled by these non-sensical conspiracy websites and theories.

Good on you Boris for listening to science unlike the other recalcitrant orange buffoon. 

41 minutes ago, brucec64 said:

What I always find incredibly gullible are the people who are fooled by these non-sensical conspiracy websites and theories.

They probably believe the earth is flat too......

10 hours ago, Tug said:

Good I hope you put some (teeth) in the consequences for non compliance we all need to stop screwing around and get this thing under control how I wish we had competent leadership here in the states.im no fan boy of Boris but on this issue I think he’s spot on good luck!

Unfortunately the measures in place are not being enforced so more stringent ones will get the same response from the police.  People know that and although initially most people adhered to the restrictions they soon got tired of that and ignored social distancing completely.  Businesses turn a blind eye because they desperately need the custom and there are not nearly enough police on the ground to arrest the law breakers.

 

Johnson is too busy insisting that all children get back to school and everyone else go back to work.  He is clueless but that is no surprise to anyone.

Good luck on enforcing this, public opinion has swayed to anti lockdown. No health crisis in most of the UK, just 4 cases out of 100,000 where I live, more people are catching a cold and flu. The PCR tests are flawed, the death total are exaggerated and the cases are only going up in certain South Asian communities, which the government won't admit to.

2 hours ago, tribalfusion001 said:

Good luck on enforcing this, public opinion has swayed to anti lockdown. No health crisis in most of the UK, just 4 cases out of 100,000 where I live, more people are catching a cold and flu. The PCR tests are flawed, the death total are exaggerated and the cases are only going up in certain South Asian communities, which the government won't admit to.

With the biggest latest spike being in Caephilly in Wales, that well known hotbed of southern Asian communities.  Also a spike in the Lothian area, another southern Asian hotbed no doubt.

 

There is some drivel written here sometimes.

10 hours ago, sungod said:

They probably believe the earth is flat too......

There we come to the root of their fear.  They're worried that all this social distancing will drive them over the edge.

How are the rise is infections relating to hospital visits or even deaths?

1 hour ago, dunroaming said:

With the biggest latest spike being in Caephilly in Wales, that well known hotbed of southern Asian communities.  Also a spike in the Lothian area, another southern Asian hotbed no doubt.

 

There is some drivel written here sometimes.

Depends if you believe the governments figures, which have always been suspect.

1 hour ago, Sametboy2019 said:

How are the rise is infections relating to hospital visits or even deaths?

They are not.

There are also rumours of a 10pm curfew.

 

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/10pm-curfew-introduced-britain-belgium-a4543271.html

1 hour ago, bartender100 said:

There are also rumours of a 10pm curfew.

 

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/10pm-curfew-introduced-britain-belgium-a4543271.html

Not brought in, just a max of 6 people.

Load of hot air as usual by Boris. 
 

Unmanageable , uncontrollable and the Police can’t do their core job let alone going round doing spot checks on houses to count how many are inside. Utter b.olox

 

Once the lockdown was relaxed it was game over There is no going back, even to a ridiculous half way house. One minute get back to work, get on the trains etc etc next breath, don’t mix in large numbers. 
 

Currently the increased numbers are not relating to higher deaths only an increase in testing and younger people. 
 

Shield the old people at risk and let the rest carry on. It’s the only way to let this thing run it’s course. 

1 hour ago, Kadilo said:

Load of hot air as usual by Boris. 
 

Unmanageable , uncontrollable and the Police can’t do their core job let alone going round doing spot checks on houses to count how many are inside. Utter b.olox

 

Once the lockdown was relaxed it was game over There is no going back, even to a ridiculous half way house. One minute get back to work, get on the trains etc etc next breath, don’t mix in large numbers. 
 

Currently the increased numbers are not relating to higher deaths only an increase in testing and younger people. 
 

Shield the old people at risk and let the rest carry on. It’s the only way to let this thing run it’s course. 

It's pathetic, lots of waffle and hot air. It is unenforceable too, I'm sure the police will stop groups over 6 wandering around if they feel the group won't give them any stick back.

 

I did my bit today, stopped off in Hadleigh from my cycle and popped into a pub. I had to give details and use the hand sanitizer, bloody cheek. Anyway I signed in as John and gave a false mobile number, pointless anyway as no one was sitting outside lol.

 

First of all it was blame the old and sick for clogging up hospitals and dying, now it's blame the under 25s for getting infected, but not sick, waste of time.

 

It's obvious now that they are just using this an excuse to ramp up the fear to flog vaccines next year, it's the same all over Europe, young people partying and getting infected (allegedly).

 

Where I live it's 4 cases in 100,000 and the population of Rayleigh is around 35,000, so I'll be very unlucky to bump into that person lol. I read a poll from Greece, 44% would not take a vaccine, probably about the same here.

Edited September 9, 20205 yr by tribalfusion001

I get confused by the precise amount of millimetres involved. I dared to touch the wheels of my M&S trolley barely over the two metre line in the local store a few weeks ago only to be scolded by the uppity checkout staff.  

 

I try to abide by the rules just to avoid all the nonsense caused by overzealous fruitcakes.  

An execise in state control, how far can they go?

https://www.rt.com/op-ed/500000-covid19-math-mistake-panic/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Email

Well nobody could remember Horst Buchholz anyway.

 

And the S Club 7 comeback tour will have to be cancelled.

 5 G? 

Edited September 9, 20205 yr by teacherclaire

5 hours ago, Kadilo said:

Shield the old people at risk and let the rest carry on. It’s the only way to let this thing run it’s course. 

spot on, but it is at the discretion of those old people, just give them info and guidelines,

then its up to the old people to decide,

based on values only known to them

Edited September 10, 20205 yr by scammed

The latest crazy edict from Boris Johnson’s government is that only six people can meet up in private homes. There is no logic to this whatsoever, and it perfectly sums up their shambolic handling of the entire coronavirus crisis.

Governments everwhere have a worse effect on peeps than deadly plagues.

2 hours ago, talahtnut said:

The latest crazy edict from Boris Johnson’s government is that only six people can meet up in private homes. There is no logic to this whatsoever, and it perfectly sums up their shambolic handling of the entire coronavirus crisis.

Governments everwhere have a worse effect on peeps than deadly plagues.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8717509/How-38MILLION-people-live-areas-hardly-affected-coronavirus.html