As a result of the increasing number of Covid 19 cases in the UK, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has decided to put England in to a third lock down and to raise the threat level of the virus to level 5. This will lead to the population being under more extreme restrictions to try and tackle the disease to overcome it and reduce the number of cases. In other words, the country is being placed under full lock down with tougher restrictions to avoid the number of cases of the virus rising out of control.
The number of cases of the virus is rising rapidly round the country so the Prime Minister has put a “Stay At Home” order in place where people are only allowed to leave their homes for certain specific reasons. This can include shopping for basic necessities, going to work if you can’t work from home or exercising with your household or one other person who lives locally to you who you have formed a support or childcare bubble with. People are also allowed to leave home to seek medical assistance or avoid injury, illness or risk of harm. This can include fleeing a domestic abuse situation.
Colleges, primary and secondary schools will remain open so that the children of key workers and for anyone who is considered vulnerable to attend. All other children must stay at home and learn remotely using online accessories etc. The BBC has decided to show several hours of educational programming per day to help with this and ensure that children don’t miss out with their education what they would have learned in school.
All higher education courses will remain online until mid February except for future critical work courses. If you have to leave home, you should always stay local i.e. in the town or village where you live to avoid any unnecessary contact with anyone who may have the virus and to maintain social distancing measures. By doing this, we can all ensure that we don’t accidentally transfer the virus from person to person and unnecessarily infect other people.
Anyone who is classed as extremely vulnerable should only attend medical appointments or take exercise if it is essential.. This is to avoid being in overcrowded areas or waiting rooms where the virus can spread more easily. All other appointments will be done on the phone or using a video call. This is to ensure that people can remain at home and only venture out where it is absolutely necessary.
You cannot leave home or exercise with anyone you are not in a support bubble with. You must exercise on your own or with one other person you may be in a support bubble with. This should be for a maximum of once a day and you shouldn’t travel outside your local area to do this.
People must still remain two metres away from anyone who is not from their household. If you experience any symptoms which may be related to Coronavirus, you must self isolate for two weeks and not leave home before the time period ends.
If you do have to go out to get essential items or to see a doctor when it is absolutely necessary, you must always wear a face covering and stay at least two metres away from all people who are not from your household. If you are in a place where you can’t stay two metres away from everyone else, the rules state that you can stay one metre away from everyone else but two metres is the safe distance so always try to maintain two metres social distancing from all other people you don’t live with.
