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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson
Photo: DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS / AFP
In view of the increasing corona numbers, the British government is introducing a three-stage warning system in England.
The system provides for a classification of all areas in England according to the categories "medium", "high" or "very high" risk, said British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in Parliament on Monday.
In Liverpool, which falls under the very high risk category, all pubs and restaurants are due to close.
In addition, three makeshift hospitals are to be put back into operation.
"That's not how we want to live our lives," admitted Johnson.
But this is "the fine path we have to take between the socio-economic shock of total lockdown and the massive human and economic costs of an uncontrolled epidemic".
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are not affected by the measures, they have their own health systems.
"The coming weeks and months will be difficult," admitted Johnson.
The head of government wants to prevent a lockdown like in the spring at all costs - schools, universities and shops are to remain open this time.
So far, the government has imposed local restrictions that affect around a quarter of the population - especially in the north of the country.
The warning system now presented by Johnson is intended to simplify the current patchwork of restrictions and will come into force on Wednesday.
The first level of "medium" risk corresponds to the measures already in place across England: Meetings are limited to six people, pubs and restaurants must close at 10 p.m.
In "high" risk areas, meetings between members of different households in closed rooms should also be prohibited.
The military should help if necessary
In regions with a "very high" risk, additional restrictions should be imposed, which may also be enforced with the help of the military.
In Liverpool, for example, with its 1.5 million inhabitants, pubs, bars, sports halls and casinos are to close.
The British association of bars and nightclubs, NTIA, described the regulations as "extremely disproportionate and unjust" and announced that they would take them to court.
The British Treasury Secretary Rishi Sunak had promised on Friday that up to two thirds of the monthly wages and salaries of employees would be paid by the state if their companies had to close in winter because of the new warning system.
The mayors of several northern English cities such as Liverpool and Manchester criticized that this support for minimum wage earners and the self-employed was too little.
Provisional hospitals set up
The health authorities had recently sounded the alarm about the situation in the hospitals.
The number of patients admitted with Covid 19 disease now exceeds that of the end of March.
In order to relieve the hospitals, three makeshift hospitals in Manchester, Sunderland and Harrogate have now been instructed to prepare for the admission of patients again in the coming weeks, as the head of the state health authorities, Stephen Powis, announced.
The makeshift hospitals were set up in spring during the temporary peak of the pandemic, but have since been closed again.
The UK has so far recorded more than 42,000 coronavirus-related deaths and nearly 618,000 confirmed infections.
On Sunday the number of new infections was 12,872.
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pgo / dpa / AFP