COVID19 – UK backs down from exercise ban
COVID19 NEWS
UK health secretary, Matt Hancock, has been forced to backtrack under pressure from Downing Street after saying that exercise outside the home could be banned as British lockdown will need to intensify due to the public not obeying new emergency laws.
Hancock said previously that further restrictions would be needed to stop the spread of coronavirus as the lockdown begins to fray.
The comments led to concerns that banning exercise would be impossible to enforce and could provoke social unrest. Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, said that the large number of people in London in small apartments and without any access to gardens would find themselves with “nowhere to go”.
In a Downing Street press conference this afternoon Hancock adopted a different tone and said that further restrictions would not be introduced imminently.
Hancock stated:
“We’ve included exercise as one of the things you can leave your house to do because exercise is good for our physical and mental health but please do not bend or break this rule. We can’t rule out further steps but I don’t want anyone to think that any changes to the social distancing rules are imminent because the vast majority are following the rules. I say this to the small minority who are breaking the rules or pushing the boundaries: you are risking your own life and the lives of others and you are making it harder for us all.”
The UK is now the country with the 5th highest number of hospital deaths as a direct result of COVID19 at 4’934 with the 3rd highest daily growth in fatalities.
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