All beauty businesses in England to close as PM enforces national lockdown
By Helena Biggs | 04 January 2021 | Movers & Shakers, News
Prime minister, Boris Johnson has enforced a national lockdown in England ‘with immediate effect’ in a bid to manage the aggressive spread of coronavirus.
Over 58,000 people tested positive for Covid-19 in the 24 hours leading up to Johnson’s announcement, and a joint statement from UK’s chief medical officers revealed that there is ‘a material risk’ of the NHS being overwhelmed in several areas within 21 days. The Covid threat level has been increased to five by the Joint Biosecurity Centre.
A large portion of the country has already been limited by Tier 4 restrictions – which do not permit close-contact services, and these new lockdown measures mean that all such services must not take place until further notice.
The announcement mirrors the lockdown decision made by Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, earlier today. The PM said that the new rules must be followed with immediate effect, and they will become law in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
Johnson commented: “With most of the country under extreme measures, it’s clear we need to do more together to bring the virus under control. In England, we must go into a national lockdown to try to contain this variant. This means that the government is once again asking you to stay at home.”
The full details of what can and can’t be done during this lockdown are available at www.gov.uk. It is likely that the lockdown will remain until ‘at least mid-February’.
He continued: “There is one huge difference compared to last year – the vaccination programme. The pace of vaccination is accelerating. By the middle of February, if things go well, we expected to have offered the first vaccine dose to everyone in the top four priority groups.
“Now more than ever we must pull together. The weeks ahead will be the hardest yet but with every jab, the odds are tilting in our favour.
“But for now, you must once again stay at home, protect the NHS and save lives.”
Details of financial support are available here.