The UK is now in a coronavirus lockdown, with strict rules now in place that will be enforced through police action if necessary.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has set out the strictest restrictions on the movement of British people ever seen. They will be in place for the next three weeks. We have never seen anything like it. Follow live reaction to this extraordinary development here.
But he said "the time has now come for us all to do more" to combat the spread of coronavirus Covid-19.
People in the UK will now only allowed to leave their homes for very limited reasons. Mr Johnson said: "If you don’t follow the rules the police will have the powers to enforce them."
A huge range of restrictions have been put in place.
These are the lockdown rules you must now follow
You will only be allowed to leave your home for the following very limited purposes:
- shopping for basic necessities, as infrequently as possible;
- one form of exercise a day - for example a run, walk, or cycle - alone or with members of your household;
- any medical need, to provide care or to help a vulnerable person;
- travelling to and from work, but only where this is absolutely necessary and cannot be done from home.
To be clear, those are the only reasons you should now leave your home. And even when doing them, you should be minimising time spent outside of the home and ensuring you are two metres apart from anyone outside of your household.
You should not be doing the following:
- You should not be meeting friends. If your friends ask you to meet, you should say no.
- You should not be meeting family members who do not live in your home.
- You should not be going shopping except for essentials like food and medicine — and you should do this as little as you can. And use food delivery services where you can.
To ensure compliance with the Government’s instruction to stay at home, this will happen immediately:
- All shops selling non-essential goods will be closed, including clothing and electronic stores and other premises including libraries, playgrounds and outdoor gyms, and places of worship;
- All gatherings of more than two people in public will be stopped, excluding people you live with;
- All social events, including weddings, baptisms and other ceremonies, but excluding funerals, will be stopped;
- Parks will remain open for exercise but gatherings will be dispersed.
Closing non-essential shops and public spaces
Last week, the Government ordered certain businesses, including pubs, cinemas and theatres, to close. This is now extended to a further set of businesses and other venues, including:
- all non-essential retail stores: clothing; electronics; hair, beauty and nail salons; outdoor and indoor markets, excluding food markets;
- libraries, community centres, and youth centres
- indoor and outdoor leisure facilities such as bowling alleys, arcades and soft play facilities
- communal places within parks, such as playgrounds, sports courts and outdoor gyms
- places of worship, except for funerals attended by immediate families
- hotels, hostels, bed and breakfasts, campsites, caravan parks, and boarding houses for commercial/leisure use (excluding permanent residents and key workers).
Stopping public gatherings
To make sure people are staying at home and apart from each other, the Government is also stopping all public gatherings of more than two people. There are only two exceptions to this rule:
- where the gathering is of a group of people who live together (this means that a parent can, for example, take their children to the shops if there is no option to leave them at home)
- where the gathering is essential for work purposes - but workers should be trying to minimise all meetings and other gatherings in the workplace.
Announcing the measures, Mr Johnson said: "From this evening I must give the British people a very simple instruction - you must stay at home."
He said: "The coronavirus is the biggest threat this country has faced for decades – and this country is not alone. Without a huge national effort to halt the growth of this virus, there will come a moment when no health service in the world could possibly cope; because there won’t be enough ventilators, enough intensive care beds, enough doctors and nurses.
"To put it simply, if too many people become seriously unwell at one time, the NHS will be unable to handle it - meaning more people are likely to die, not just from coronavirus but from other illnesses as well.
"And that’s why we have been asking people to stay at home during this pandemic. And though huge numbers are complying – and I thank you all - the time has now come for us all to do more."
Mr Johnson added: "No Prime Minister wants to enact measures like this. I know the damage that this disruption is doing and will do to people’s lives, to their businesses and to their jobs. And that’s why we have produced a huge and unprecedented programme of support both for workers and for business.
"And I can assure you that we will keep these restrictions under constant review. We will look again in three weeks, and relax them if the evidence shows we are able to. But at present there are just no easy options. The way ahead is hard, and it is still true that many lives will sadly be lost. And yet it is also true that there is a clear way through."
