Liverpool mayor rejects plans to shut pubs and restaurants across north of England
The mayor of Liverpool has come out against potential plans for any further restrictions across the north of England, such as pub and restaurant closures.
Steve Rotheram called it “deeply disappointing” that new Covid-19 restrictions could be in place from Monday.
“At the moment we have a patchwork of local measures across the country and too much confusion for the public as a result,” Rotheram said.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson is considering to impose additional restrictions on pubs and restaurants across the north of England in order to slow down a second outbreak of the coronavirus.
Rotheram warned that “significant restrictions, like those being proposed, must also come with significant financial support for local businesses.”
Scotland
Only yesterday, Nicola Sturgeon announced Scotland will ban the sale of alcohol indoors in hospitality venues for 16 days in a bid to curb a second spike in Covid.
From Friday, hospitality venues across Scotland will only be able to open indoors between 6am and 6pm, and will not be able to serve alcohol in these settings.
Sharp increase
The UK government is scrambling to contain a sharp spike in infections across the country, particularly the north of England, with politicians in virus hotspots warning that current coronavirus restrictions are “not working”.
A letter sent to health secretary Matt Hancock warned that council leaders in Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle and Liverpool were “extremely concerned” about the sharp spike in cases across the North of England and the “national responses”.
“The existing restrictions are not working, confusing for the public and some, like the 10pm [curfew] rule, are counter-productive,” they said.
A further 14,542 coronavirus cases were reported in the UK on Tuesday, marking a 2,000 jump on Monday’s figure and taking the total number of confirmed cases to more than 530,000.
The rate of infection in parts of the country has now soared beyond the threshold of 20 cases per 100,000 used by the government to introduce quarantine measures on other countries.
Manchester reported 2,927 new cases in the seven days to 2 October — the equivalent of 529.4 cases per 100,000.