Sadiq Khan warns coronavirus is ‘still an extremely dangerous threat’ and orders masks on Tube – after hiking fares

SADIQ Khan has today told Londoners to "continue to stay at home" as "lockdown has not been lifted".

It comes a day after he raised London transport fares after rowing with Government over service use and funding.

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He tweeted this morning in his latest message which goes against the Government's message: "I want to be clear with Londoners: lockdown has not been lifted. #COVID19 is still an extremely dangerous threat.

"Continue to stay at home as much as possible this weekend. If you need to use public transport for essential travel, wear a non-medical face covering at all times."

The Mayor and the Government have been sending mixed messages to a confused public about the easing of lockdown rules - with Mr Khan insisting lockdown is in place and telling Londoners to stay at home.

Many commuters told they could travel to work once more if they couldn't do their job from home were still faced with "go home" signs at Tube stations this week.

It comes as Brits are in for a warm and sunny weekend - which is a worry for authorities hoping social distancing will continue.

This is the first weekend after lockdown restrictions were slightly eased, and Brits are allowed to sunbathe. But they have been urged to be sensible and stick to distancing rules while enjoying the sunshine.

As Londoners slowly emerge from lockdown, Mr Khan yesterday announced plans to whack up the charges for vehicles driving in central London from June, and commuters travelling will face higher costs in the coming months too.

The news comes the day after the Government forced the Mayor to accept 

BAILOUT FALLOUT

Mr Khan had threatened to pull bus, Tube and rail services from Monday to help ease his budget blackhole if the Government did not come up with the cash.

Fares are set to be hiked by one percent above inflation - around 2.5 per cent - as part of the deal the Mayor sealed with the Government yesterday. That will add an extra £36 a year onto a monthly travel card.

And the congestion charge will go up from £11.50 to £15 from June 1, and the hours it will apply will be extended, the Mayor confirmed this morning.

It's currently only applied between 7am and 6pm on a week day, but will be extended to 10pm and run seven days a week.
The 30 per cent hike will particularly hit white van man and other tradespeople who have to travel around the capital for work.

But the Mayor blamed the Government for forcing him to act - saying the £1.6billion bailout was the "only deal on the table".

The Labour mayor will have to get Tubes running back to 100 per cent capacity as soon as possible and use No10’s Stay Alert campaigns on the network.

Londoners who have a Freedom Pass – used by one million adults who are over 60 to travel free on the Tube and buses – will be suspended during the morning and evening rush hours. But disabled passengers will not lose their free travel passes.

This week, as Boris Johnson encouraged Brits who cannot work from home to get back to the office, worried commuters hit out over crowded Tubes and buses.

Concerned passengers posted pictures of busy carriages each morning, with one sarcastically saying ";I felt so safe on the tube this morning", adding "second wave anyone?".

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Mr Khan was heavily criticised when the lockdown began for being slow to give bus and rail workers proper protection against the killer virus - with dozens of TfL workers dying on the frontline.

And today he continued to play the blame game while admitting full services won't be back by Monday, despite being required to in the deal and passengers continuing to crush into reduced trains.

It comes as coronavirus deaths in the UK have risen to 33,998 after 384 more people died - but the weekly death toll is the lowest since the end of March.

In the past week, a total of 2,757 people died in care homes and hospitals across the UK, figures from the Department of Health show.

This is the lowest weekly rise in deaths since the week ending March 27, when 1,003 lost their lives to the deadly disease.

But it comes as new data released yesterday revealed the coronavirus “R” infection rate has risen.

Experts fear that Covid-19's reproduction number has gone up from between 0.5 and 0.9 to 0.7 and 1 in some parts of the country.

A total of 236,711 people have also now tested positive for Covid-19 across Britain - up 3,560 cases from Thursday.

Among the latest UK deaths is Safaa Alam, an NHS midwife who had worked at Birmingham Women’s Hospital for six years.

The 30-year-old died while grieving her father's death and had warned others on Facebook about the killer bug during the early days of the Covid-19 crisis.

Figures released yesterday by ONS show that care home deaths are the highest in the South East and North West as 12,526 residents have died from killer bug.

Covid-19 was the leading cause of the death for male care home residents and the second leading cause of death in female care home residents.

Those aged between 65 and 69 accounted for the highest proportion of deaths involving coronavirus in both male and female care home residents - 35.1 per cent and 30.3 per cent respectively.