Hospitality businesses in Lancashire and Merseyside face curfews
According to reports, cities and towns in the North West county, including Preston Lancaster and Blackburn, will have a curfew imposed on them, with major cities such as Liverpool and Leeds also expected to have curfews put in place in the coming days.
Yesterday (17 September) a 10pm curfew on pubs, restaurants and bars was introduced in parts of North East England, a move that impacted almost 2,400 hospitality businesses.
Lancashire County Council says it is expecting an announcement later today (18 September) by the Government on new measures to bring down the rate of Covid-19 infections in Lancashire.
“We are awaiting the full details and will let you know what it means for you and our county as soon as we can,” it says.
The news has been met with dismay by hospitality businesses. Award-winning gastropub Parkers Arms said on Twitter that businesses not adhering to distancing guidelines were not being tackled. “Perhaps it's time @RibbleValleyBC that you stepped in and policed businesses not adhereing (sic) to the guidelines. You know who they are and not done nothing about it and now we are all hung out to dry.”
Fears are also growing that parts of the capital could also be hit with new lockdown rules, with the number of cases of Coronavirus growing over the past week in 15 London boroughs, according to the latest data from Public Health England.
Speaking to Sky News, Health Secretary Matt Hancock didn’t rule out the possibility of a national lockdown, describing it as “the last line of defence” by the Government.
“I don’t want to see that, but we will do whatever is necessary to keep people safe in a very difficult pandemic,” he said.
