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Pubs and restaurants to close at 10pm in England

Photo credit: Charlie McKay
Photo credit: Charlie McKay

From Harper's BAZAAR

Pubs and restaurants will close at 10pm in England from Thursday 24 September, to reduce rising rates of Covid-19. Only table service will be permitted.

Cabinet officer Michael Gove said there was evidence that the new closing time has had "beneficial effect" in countries where the same measure has been implemented.

The news comes as the UK's Covid-19 alert level moves to four, which means that infections are "high or rising exponentially". The government's chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance says that there could be 50,000 new cases a day by mid-October if no action is taken.

Professor Calum Semple, who is an expert in outbreak medicine at the University of Liverpool, said that there had been a rise in hospital admissions in women aged between 20 and 40, who were working in care, hospitality or who have children now back at school.

On the subject of the new closing times, a No 10 spokesperson told the BBC: "We know this won't be easy, but we must take further action to control the resurgence in cases of the virus and protect the NHS."

Boris Johnson is expected to make a public address at 8pm tonight, 22 September. Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has already said that he wants to impose further restrictions on the capital in order to prevent further spreading. He will will meet with the Prime Ministers to discuss plans today.

The government's new 10pm closing rule, along with the rule of six, is intended to show the public that they must remain vigilant and efforts to tackle the virus need to be upped.

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