Matt Hancock threatens new coronavirus restrictions if people flout rules
The government will introduce more stringent coronavirus restrictions if people do not follow the new set of rules, according to health secretary Matt Hancock.
Hancock said that the UK was at a “tipping point”, as coronavirus cases rise across the conutry, and that people had become “more relaxed [about following Covid rules] over summer”.
Hancock’s stark warning comes as the government announced that people who break some of the coronavirus rules will be fined up to £10,000 from Monday next week.
People who do not self isolate after being contacted by NHS Test and Trace will be fined £1,000 for first time offences and up to £10,000 for repeat offences.
There has also been speculation that the government is looking at implementing a two week national lockdown next month.
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The health secretary stressed today that everyone needed to follow the rule of six – which mandates people cannot congregate in numbers of more than six people – and to self isolate and get a test if they have Covid symptoms.
Hancock told Sky News: “The choice is that everybody follows the rules – the rule of six and the need to self isolate if you have a positive test or contacted by NHS Test and Trace or we will have to take more measures.
“If people don’t follow the rules, that’s how the virus spreads.
“We know so much more about the virus and how it spreads last time and we can see what people need to do and that’s why we have these super simple rules.”
New figures from Imperial College London show the number of Covid-19 cases has risen in every part of the UK except Carlisle, Swindon, Aberdeenshire and Perth and Kinross.
The modelling also shows that the London borough of Redbridge is the capital’s worst hit area.
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said on Friday that it was “increasingly likely” that London would soon have more Covid restrictions imposed.