Nearly a third of coronavirus infections in the UK are being spread in pubs, cafes and restaurants, ministers have warned.
Roughly 30% of cases are being contracted through ‘social interactions’ in these venues, according to evidence presented to MPs by England’s chief medical officer Chris Whitty.
Revealing the figures to the BBC this morning, business minister Nadhim Zahawi said: ‘It is only right that we take action with the local leadership, with public health local teams, because they know their area best.’
Zahawi appeared to be referring to a briefing to 149 MPs last night, however the data reportedly comes from a sample of just 400 cases.
It follows reports that pubs in northern England could be told to close as early as next week under plans being drawn up by Boris Johnson.
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Local leaders were enraged about not being consulted by Downing Street, while business owners told Metro.co.uk having to close again could be ‘death by a thousand cuts’.
Pubs and restaurants were allowed to reopen on July 4, providing they could prove that they could follow ‘Covid-secure’ guidelines.
Laws were introduced last month making it mandatory for hospitality venues to record visitors’ details and for customers to wear masks at all times unless they are sat at their table.
Now all pubs and restaurants are required to display a QR code for the NHS Covid-19 contact tracing app, which launched two weeks ago.
Boris Johnson has faced a rebellion from Tory backbenchers over the ‘rule of six’ on social gatherings and the 10pm curfew for hospitality venues.
Ministers are set to vote on the curfew, the day after a three-tier ‘traffic light’ system for local lockdowns is expected to be announced.
As more areas face the prospect of regional restrictions, Zahawi admitted that the rest of 2020 is ‘going to be a really tough year economically’.
He added: ‘The direction of travel is still positive, it’s still over 2% growth, but nevertheless many, many businesses, whether it’s hospitality and retail or aviation are struggling with coronavirus as are many other nations around the world.’
Today the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed the UK economy grew by 2.1% in August.
The rise in GDP was less than half of the 4.6% analysts were expecting and was a major slowdown from the 6.4% expansion in July.
Despite the evidence presented by Professor Whitty, the new contact tracing app has only sent one alert about an outbreak in a venue since its launch two weeks ago.
The Department of Health said the system was still new and wasn’t expected to be used frequently, but millions of people have used it to check in-in to bars and restaurants already.
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source https://metro.co.uk/2020/10/09/third-of-uk-coronavirus-cases-spread-in-pubs-and-restaurants-13395139/