By Partial lockdown reimposed for the northern areas of England
On Thursday evening, 30 July 2020, the UK’s Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, announced that from midnight, households in the north of England were being placed back under partial lockdown after predictions of a ‘damaging second wave’ of COVID-19 hitting the UK during August.
This new lockdown means that people of different households will not be permitted to meet with each other in a private home or garden or socialise with people that they do not live with. As well as private homes, this apples to meeting people at cafes, shops or places or worship.
This lockdown will be being enforced by Police, with the UK Government website warning that penalty notices will be given to anyone breaking the rules:
“The police will be able to take action against those that break these rules, including asking people to disperse and issuing fixed penalty notices, starting at £100.”
As well as limits on social contact, in Blackburn, Darwen and Bradford, all gyms, fitness and dance studios, sports and court facilities and pools must now remain closed.
For those who need to attend work, the government have permitted travel to work both inside and outside of affected areas, but say that workplaces must implement COVID-19 Secure guidance and no socialising should occur before or after work, or during breaks.
The communication of the new lockdown restrictions has been criticised by Conservative and Labour MPs and labelled as confusing, with many demanding that the Government make further, urgent updates to explain the situation further.
The Labour leader, Keir Starmer, said announcing the lockdown measures “late at night on Twitter” was “a new low for the government’s communications during this crisis” and called for urgent clarity and explanation from the government, as well as proper support for businesses and people affected by new lockdown measures.
The people of Greater Manchester now need urgent clarity and explanation from the government – and there must be proper support for those businesses and people affected by any lockdown.
— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) July 30, 2020
For clarity, the list of all towns and cities affected by the lockdown are:
- Greater Manchester:
- City of Manchester
- Trafford
- Stockport
- Oldham
- Bury
- Wigan
- Bolton
- Tameside
- Rochdale
- Salford
- Lancashire:
- Blackburn with Darwen
- Burnley
- Hyndburn
- Pendle
- Rossendale
- West Yorkshire:
- Bradford
- Calderdale
- Kirklees
You can find more information on the lockdown here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/north-west-of-england-local-restrictions-what-you-can-and-cannot-do
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