After a summer of inaction and paying for you to go out to dinner, the government is set to take new steps to try and limit the spread of the coronavirus. According to the government’s trusted vassal/ITV politics guy Robert Peston, plans are being drawn up to reduce the number of people you can meet in your home. The new limit could be as low as 6 people, down from the current 30.
The government is to significantly reduce the threshold for lawful gatherings of people in homes from the current 30, perhaps to as low as six, I understand. This is a first response to the significant spike to circa 3000 a day in Covid-19 infections we've seen…
— Robert Peston (@Peston) September 8, 2020
At the moment, attending an event of over 30 people lands you with a £100 fine and organisers can be fined up to £10,000. Several illegal raves were broken up in Leeds and Manchester in the last few weeks as police tried to get on top of unlicensed music events.
.@elashton reports that minutes after addressing 50 Tory MPs in a room with a notice saying capacity was 29, @BorisJohnson’s office tweeted that meeting in groups of more than 30 is illegal, punishable with huge fine. Satire is dead https://t.co/2K8nax4Y1L
— Robert Peston (@Peston) September 3, 2020
The rumours come after Matt Hancock appeared on national radio yesterday and admitted that the infection rate was rising, especially among young people.
Recorded daily infections rose to 2,988 on Sunday – the highest figure since 22 May. The spike is not a result of children returning to school, Hancock said, as the effects of the start of term would not have appeared in testing results yet.
“The rise in the number of cases we have seen in the last few days is concerning.
“It is concerning because we have seen a rise in cases in France, in Spain, in some other countries across Europe – nobody wants to see a second wave here,” the health secretary said, live on LBC radio.
Asked whether he had “lost control” of the pandemic, he said: “No, but the whole country needs to following social distancing.
“We can only do this as a whole society – everybody has a role to play.”
At the time of writing it’s unclear whether any new restrictions will apply to businesses and staff returning to work, or just people trying to enjoy themselves in the face of a global pandemic.
