UK

Boris Johnson: You should go to work if you can't work from home

 Boris Johnston's new slogan is 'Stay Alert'
 Boris Johnston's new slogan is 'Stay Alert'  Boris Johnston's new slogan is 'Stay Alert'

Boris Johnson  has annouced new rules for lockdown, effective from tomorrow.

The key points are: 

  • If you can't work from home, for example those in construction and manufacturing, then you are encouraged to go out to work.
  • New guidance will make workplaces 'Covid secure'Workers hould travel by car, bike or walk and not public transport
  • Some pubs, restaurants, hotels and other public places could begin to reopen in July at the earliest “if and only if the numbers support it”.
  • People can sit in the sun in local park, drive to other destinations and play sport but only with members of the same household. 
  • Tennis courts and golf clubs could reopen in England from Wednesday. Other permitted activities will include water sports and angling.
  • Fines for breaching coronavirus regulations will rise from £60 to £100 
  • Schools may begin to reopen by June 1 at the earliest along with the phased reopening of shops.
  • The majority of secondary school pupils will not attend classes before September at the earliest.

The British Prime Minister told the televised briefing that, from Wednesday, people can take “more and even unlimited amounts of outdoor exercise”.

“You can sit in the sun in your local park, you can drive to other destinations, you can even play sports, but only with members of your own household,” he said.

“You must obey the rules on social distancing and to enforce those rules we will increase the fines for the small minority who break them.”

The Prime Minister added that the R rate will continue to be monitored and if the nation “begin(s) to fulfill the conditions” set out on Sunday, “we may be able to go further” in the coming weeks and months.

Mr Johnson said that from this week anyone who cannot work from home “should be actively encouraged to go to work” but avoid using public transport if possible.

He said: “And we want it to be safe for you to get to work. So you should avoid public transport if at all possible – because we must and will maintain social distancing, and capacity will therefore be limited.

“So work from home if you can, but you should go to work if you can’t work from home.”

He said the Government has been working to establish new guidance for employers to make workplaces “Covid-secure”.

Mr Johnson said the coronavirus death toll has been “tragic, and the suffering immense”, as he addressed the nation.

But he added that obeying the lockdown measures for almost two months had helped prevent a worst case scenario of half a million fatalities.

He said: “It is a fact that by adopting those measures we prevented this country from being engulfed by what could have been a catastrophe in which the reasonable worst case scenario was half a million fatalities.

“And it is thanks to your effort and sacrifice in stopping the spread of this disease that the death rate is coming down and hospital admissions are coming down.”

The Prime Minister said it would be “madness” to allow a “second spike” of coronavirus, as he reinforced the new “stay alert” slogan.

“And so I know – you know – that it would be madness now to throw away that achievement by allowing a second spike,” he said.

“We must stay alert.

“We must continue to control the virus and save lives.”

Mr Johnson acknowledged that lockdown measures against the spread of Covid-19 have come at a “colossal cost to our way of life” as he gave the “first sketch of a road map for reopening society”.

More details will be set out in Parliament on Monday and through questions from the public that evening, he added.

Mr Johnson said that a new “Covid Alert Level” would be established to track the progress on reducing the R value, to be run by a new Joint Biosecurity Centre.

“And that Covid Alert Level will be determined primarily by R and the number of coronavirus cases,” he said.

“And in turn that Covid Alert Level will tell us how tough we have to be in our social distancing measures – the lower the level the fewer the measures.

“The higher the level, the tougher and stricter we will have to be.”

Mr Johnson described the measures to tackle coronavirus as a “conditional plan” which will still need to clear five key tests to prevent a future spike in cases.

He said he has had talks across different political parties and across the four UK nations about his approach.

He said: “I believe that as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom – Scotland, England, Wales, Northern Ireland, there is a strong resolve to defeat this together.

 Confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK.
 Confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK.  Confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK.

“And today a general consensus on what we could do.

“And I stress could.

“Because although we have a plan, it is a conditional plan.”

The Prime Minister said there would be five alert levels, with Level Five being “the most critical” and Level One meaning that Covid-19 was “no longer present” in the UK.

He added that throughout the lockdown period the country had been at Level Four but that steps could now be taken to move to Level Three.

“And as we go everyone will have a role to play in keeping the R down by staying alert and following the rules,” he added.

Mr Johnson added that in order to keep pushing the numbers of infections down, epidemics in care homes and the NHS had to be reversed and that an emphasis on heavy testing must remain.

“We must reverse rapidly the awful epidemics in care homes and in the NHS, and though the numbers are coming down sharply now, there is plainly much more to be done,” he said.

“And if we are to control this virus, then we must have a world-beating system for testing potential victims, and for tracing their contacts.

“So that – all told – we are testing literally hundreds of thousands of people every day.”

Mr Johnson said: “We have made fast progress on testing – but there is so much more to do now, and we can.

“When this began, we hadn’t seen this disease before, and we didn’t fully understand its effects.

“With every day we are getting more and more data. We are shining the light of science on this invisible killer, and we will pick it up where it strikes.

“Because our new system will be able in time to detect local flare-ups – in your area – as well as giving us a national picture.

“And yet when I look at where we are tonight, we have the R below one, between 0.5 and 0.9 – but potentially only just below one. And though we have made progress in satisfying at least some of the conditions I have given.

“We have by no means fulfilled all of them. And so no, this is not the time simply to end the lockdown this week.”

Mr Johnson said that parts of the hospitality industry and other public places could reopen by July at the earliest, subject to conditions, scientific advice and “only if the numbers support it.”

“Throughout this period of the next two months we will be driven not by mere hope or economic necessity,” he said.

“We are going to be driven by the science, the data and public health.”

Mr Johnson said that protecting the NHS, securing sustained falls in the death rate along with sustained and considerable drops in infection rates must happen.

He said: “We must sort out our challenges in getting enough PPE to the people who need it, and yes, it is a global problem but we must fix it.

“And last, we must make sure that any measures we take do not force the reproduction rate of the disease – the R – back up over one, so that we have the kind of exponential growth we were facing a few weeks ago.”

Mr Johnson said while the country is through the initial peak, “it is coming down the mountain that is often more dangerous.”

He added: “We have a route, and we have a plan, and everyone in Government has the all-consuming pressure and challenge to save lives, restore livelihoods and gradually restore the freedoms that we need.”

He paid tribute to everyone who has adhered to the measures to date.

He said: “When I think of the millions of everyday acts of kindness and thoughtfulness that are being performed across this country, and that have helped to get us through this first phase, I know that we can use this plan to get us through the next.

“And if we can’t do it by those dates, and if the alert level won’t allow it, we will simply wait and go on until we have got it right.”

Bringing the televised address to a close, Mr Johnson said the country will “come back from this devilish illness” and be “stronger and better than ever before”.

“And though the UK will be changed by this experience, I believe we can be stronger and better than ever before,” he said.

“More resilient, more innovative, more economically dynamic, but also more generous and more sharing.

“But for now we must stay alert, control the virus and save lives.”