By Ashley Young-
All cafes, pubs and restaurants have been ordered to close from Friday night , apart from take-away food – to tackle coronavirus, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said.
All the UK’s nightclubs, theatres, cinemas, gyms and leisure centres have also been told to close “as soon as they reasonably can. The chancellor has said the government will pay 80% of wages for employees who are not working, up to £2,500 a month. The announcement about closures follows is similar to measures taken in other countries – including in Ireland, where pubs and bars were asked to close from last Sunday.With over 167 deaths in England from the coronavirus outbreak, as well as six in Scotland, three in Wales and one in Northern Ireland. The situation is absolutely unprecedented.
Prime minister,Boris Johnson said the measures would be enforced “strictly” and that licensing arrangements would make doing so “relatively simple”.The prime minister added: “The more effectively we follow the advice we are given, the faster this country will stage both a medical and an economic recovery in full.” Speaking at the same briefing, Chancellor Rishi Sunak said the new measures to help employees out of work were “unprecedented”.
The news comes as the UK death toll rose to 184, and medics across the country spoke about shortages to essential safety equipment such as visors, masks and gowns, with some hospitals just hours away from running out.
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Boris appealed to employers to stand by their workers during the coronavirus crisis, in the wake of many firms warning of collapse.England’s deputy chief medical officer, Dr Jenny Harries said:”We are saying, if you are going to go outside, go in a way that reduces your social contact,” she said. Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon also asked all restaurants, cafes, pubs and cinemas to close .Most UK schools closed their doors to a majority of pupils indefinitely on Friday, in an effort to stem the spread of the virus.
Drastic also said U.S. students won’t have to take annual state tests this year. California, New York and Pennsylvania all took radical steps to combat the deadly conoravirus America has recorded at least 210 deaths and over 14,600 confirmed cases. Italy saw its biggest one-day increase on Friday.
There are over 265,000 confirmed cases around the globe, according to the Johns Hopkins University data dashboard.