Pubs, bars and other hospitality venues in the UK will have to close at 10pm from Thursday, as the British government imposes new restrictions to try to curb a surge in coronavirus cases.
The Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to announce the new measures on Tuesday, a day after the chief medical and scientific advisors warned about the spread of the virus in all parts of the country.
In a televised statement on Monday, the UK’s scientific advisor Sir Patrick Vallance said with “cases doubling roughly every seven days”, there could be 50,000 new cases a day by mid-October if the surge continues unabated.
Speaking alongside Chris Whitty, the UK’s chief medical officer, Vallance said the “increase in case numbers has translated into a rise in hospitalisations, and deaths are also increasing”, warning that what was needed was “speed and action, and enough to bring that rate down”.