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Brits told to ‘work from home if you can’ as PM set to slap 10pm curfew on pubs
BRITS have been told to work from home if they can in a huge shift away from the 'back to work' message - as Boris prepares to tell pubs they have to shut at 10pm to curb coronavirus.
After weeks of telling people to go back into their offices, today Michael Gove confirmed there had been a change of tack to stop the spread of the bug.
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He told Sky News this morning: "If it is possible for people to work from home then we would encourage them to do so."
He later told the BBC that they could stay in the office if they thought it was a "safe, covid-secure" workplace, and "you should be there if your job requires it".
And he admitted that some people would have to continue coming in to work - like people working in factories or retail.
"But if you can work from home, you should," Mr Gove said.
The news comes just three weeks after all civil servants were ordered to come back into the office to help restart the economy.
And the PM ordered people to start going back to work from the start of August if they could.
Two thirds of people came into their offices at least some of the time during the last week, the most recent ONS stats showed.
The news comes as part of a new package of coronavirus measures the PM will reveal this lunchtime - including a curfew of 10pm on pubs.
However, this morning Mr Gove caused chaos over the new policy - by admitting that drinkers CAN go back home to booze after the pubs close.
The mixed-messaging of the policy threatens further chaos for police trying to enforce the "rule of six" at after parties as the Government desperately tries to reel in the growing number of coronavirus cases.
Today's fresh plan from Boris will include:
- A 10pm curfew for all pubs across England - and they will be made to offer table service by law.
- There will be a significant cap on the number of guests allowed at weddings.
- But businesses and schools will be able to stay open as No10 attempts to stave off a second lockdown.
- A dramatic increase in enforcement measures to make sure people are obeying the Rule of Six.
- More fines could be slapped on those flouting the rules with on-the-spot closures for venues that fail to follow the rules.
There are mounting fears that social mixing between households inside could be banned after it was outlawed in Northern Ireland.
That seems increasingly likely after the medics’ dire warning that people could be ordered to stay away from family and friends — rules already in place in some parts of the country.
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The curfew, from this Thursday, will also hit restaurants and all other hospitality venues in England.
More restrictions on social gathering are also expected - with the details to be revealed in the House of Commons later.
But the PM is expected not to put the UK into a full lockdown like back in March.
The nation has been told they should limit the number of households that people are coming into contact with to minimise the risk of infection.
People in the North and Midlands are already banned from visiting others in their homes or gardens, or hanging out with people they do not live with in pubs.
The Prime Minister hopes the move, along with other restrictions to be announced, will avoid the need for a second crippling lockdown.
Boris Johnson has staved off pressure from Cabinet to shut the hospitality industry completely and will address the nation on TV at 8pm.
Mr Gove said the Government was taking "reluctant steps" with the new coronavirus measures, but added that they are "absolutely necessary".
"There will be more details that the Prime Minister will spell out, and again, one of the points that he'll make is that no one wants to do these things, no one wants to take these steps," he told Sky News.
"They are reluctant steps that we're taking, but they are absolutely necessary.
"Because as we were reminded yesterday, and as you've been reporting, the rate of infection is increasing, the number of people going to hospital is increasing, and therefore we need to act."
Today's new measures follows a chilling briefing from the UK’s top docs that we had “in a bad sense literally turned a corner” — with the death rate primed to hit 200 per day again within weeks.
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The Covid threat level was raised from three to four yesterday, meaning the virus is running amok across the country — signalling six months of further misery.
Chief medical adviser Chris Whitty warned everyone has a part to play in stopping the disease, insisting: “This is not someone else’s problem, this is all of our problems.”
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A senior Whitehall source said: “Every option comes with a very big stick.”
The PM will chair an emergency meeting of Cobra this morning — the first in months — and summon his Cabinet to sign off his new clampdown.
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