We are going into new lockdown on Thursday

By The Editor 31st Oct 2020

England is going into a new national lockdown on Thursday.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that all pubs, bars, restaurants and entertainment venues would close, furlough will be extended and schools remain open.

He said people "must stay at home" and set out the circumstances in which you may go outside.

The new lockdown comes amid rising numbers of Covid-19 cases which Mr Johnson said has the potential to overwhelm hospitals.

He said: "We do have the Nightingales (pop-up hospitals), we've got 13,000 more nurses than we had last year, we've got many more doctors. But it still would not be enough because the virus is doubling faster than we can concievably add capacity.

"So now is the time to take action because there is no alternative. From Thursday until the start of December, you must stay at home. You may only leave home for specific reasons including:

  • for education
  • work, let's say if you cannot work from home
  • for exercise and recreation outdoors with your household or on your own with one person from another household
  • for medical reasons or appointment
  • to escape injury or harm.
  • to shop for food and essentials
  • to provide care for vulnerable people or as a volunteer

"I'm afraid non-essential shops, leisure and entertainment venues will all be closed, though click-and-collect services can continue and essential shops will remain open so there's no need to stock up.

"Pubs, bars, restaurants must close except for takeaway and delivery services.

"Work places should stay open where people can't work from home. For example, in the construction and manufacturing sectors.

"Single adult households can still form exclusive support bubbles with one other household and children will still be able to move between homes if their parents are separated.

"If you're clinically vulnerable or over the age of 60 you should be especially careful to follow the rules and minimise your contacts with others.

"I'm under no illusions about how difficult this will be for businesses which already have had to endure such hardships this year and I'm truly, truly sorry for that.

"That's why we are going to extent the furlough system through November. The furlough scheme was a success in the spring, it supported people and businesses in a critical time. We will not end it, we will extend furlough until December.

"There will be some differences to March. These measures will be time-limited, starting Thursday (November 5).

"They will end on Wednesday, December 2 when we will seek to ease restrictions, going back into the tiered system on a local and regional basis according to the latest data and trends.

"Christmas is going to be different this year, perhaps very different. But it's my sincere hope and belief that by taking tough action now we can allow families across the country to be together.

"Our priority remains keeping children in education so childcare, early years' settings, schools, colleges and universities will all remain open. We cannot let this virus damage our children's futures even more than it has and I urge parents to continue taking their children to school and I'm extremely grateful to teachers across the country for their dedication in enabling schools to remain open.

"It's vital that we keep provision for non-healthcare groups going - this is really important. Unless your clinicians tell you otherwise, you should continue to use the NHS, get your scans, turn up for your appointments and pick up your treatments.

"If at all possible we want you to continue to access these services now and through the winter. Indeed, it's only by taking this action that we can protect the NHS for you.

"As we come together to fight this second wave I want to say something about the way ahead. People will reasonably ask when will this all end. As I've said before I am optimistic that this will feel very different and better by the spring.

"It's not just that we have better medicines and therapies and realistic hope of a vaccine in the first quarter of next year.

"We now have the immediate prospect of using many millions of cheap, reliable and above all rapid turnaround tests, tests that you can use yourself to tell you whether or not you're infectious and get the result within 10-15 minutes.

"We know from trials across the country, in schools and hospitals, that we can use these tests not just to locate infectious people but to drive down the disease. So over the next few days and weeks we plan a steady but massive expansion in the deployment of these quick turnaround tests, applying them in an ever-growing number of situations.

"We will get through this but we must act now to contain this autumn surge. We're not going back to the full-scale lockdown of March and April; the measures that I've outlined are less probitive and less restrictive. But I'm afraid, from Thursday the basic message is the same: stay at home, protect the NHS and save lives."

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