LONDON - Mayor Sadiq Khan has reportedly urged Boris Johnson to immediately impose new coronavirus restrictions on the capital amid a surge in infections. The mayor is said to be pushing for measures to be introduced as early as Monday to avoid a second huge spike in cases and another lockdown, which the prime minister is reportedly strongly against. Sources told the mayor that London is no longer two weeks behind Covid-19 hotspots such as the North East and Greater Manchester – which are currently under stricter measures – but instead is just ‘two to three days behind’. Khan is reportedly pushing for 10pm curfews on pubs and restaurants, along with banning households from mixing with one another – similar to measures imposed in the North East last week.
He is also understood to be planning to tell the public to work from home where possible, despite the government’s push to get people back to the office. A mayoral source told The Huffington Post: ‘It’s clear that cases in London are only moving in one direction, we are now just days behind hotspots in the North West and North East. ‘We can’t afford more delay.
Introducing new measures now will help slow the spread of the virus and potentially prevent the need for a fuller lockdown like we saw in March, which could seriously damage the economy once again.’ The comments come after Khan last week admitted he was ‘extremely concerned’ by the ‘accelerating speed’ at which the virus is spreading in the capital.
He said it was looking ‘increasingly likely’ that the capital will face firmer measures before the virus spirals out of control. The number of cases per 100,000 people over seven days is reported to have increased from 18.8 to around 25 in London. The prime minister admitted the country is ‘now seeing a second wave coming in’ and that it was ‘inevitable’ that Covid-19 will hit the nation. Johnson said a second UK-wide lockdown is ‘the last thing anybody wants’ but that current restrictions would be kept under review. He is said to be staunchly against the idea in a bid to protect the economy.(FA)
