New restrictive measures are expected to tackle the spread of the new coronavirus in the UK, where Prime Minister Boris Johnson is due to detail his strategy to MPs on Monday.
Accused of not sufficiently informing parliamentarians of its plans to fight the virus, the government has this time prepared the ground.
Boris Johnson’s strategic adviser, Edward Lister, wrote to MPs in North West England, particularly affected by the pandemic, to warn them that it was “very likely” that stricter rules will be applied in “some regions ”.
“The government will discuss a set of measures with local elected officials who all present difficult choices,” he adds in this letter.
The government also announced Friday that the employment support mechanism announced two weeks ago and which was only open to employees working part-time would “be extended to companies which must legally remain closed because of the restrictions. imposed by the government ”in the face of the virus.
Employees of these companies will be compensated at two-thirds of their usual salary up to 2,100 pounds (3,587 Canadian dollars) monthly. The companies themselves will only have to pay contributions to social security and pensions.
The establishment of a system with several levels of restrictions, depending on the severity of the spread of the virus, is expected, the mayor of Liverpool (north), Joe Anderson, expecting a “local containment” to target his city, which has nearly 600 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. He expects the measure to be enacted as early as “Tuesday” in Parliament, he told the BBC on Saturday.
The spread of the virus has accelerated in recent days in the UK. The hardest-hit city of Nottingham in England has 760.6 cases per 100,000 people – a steep increase from 158.3 cases per 100,000 recorded in the last week of September.
The UK, the hardest hit in Europe with more than 42,000 dead, recorded more than 17,000 new cases on Thursday and nearly 14,000 new cases on Friday.
In Scotland, pubs and cafes in five parts of Scotland, including the two main cities of Glasgow and Edinburgh, were forced to close on Friday for just over two weeks, by decision of the local government.