Published 11:20 IST, March 25th 2020
'Make your choice': UK tells couples to live together or stay apart during lockdown
As the United Kingdom government announced a coronavirus lockdown, one of the country’s top doctors advised couples to ‘make a choice’ to stay together or apart
As the United Kingdom government announced a coronavirus lockdown, one of the country’s top doctors advised couples to make a choice to stay together or apart. The clarification came from Jenny Harries, the deputy chief medical officer, who was asked whether the couples who lived apart could socialise at all under the new restrictions. While speaking at the Downing Street press conference, Harries said that couples who do not cohabit, they must wither not meet at all, or else quickly move in together.
Harries said, “The alternative might be that for quite a significant period going forward they should just test the strength of their relationship ..test really carefully your strength of feeling”.
UK Health Minister Matt Hancock further added, “Stay with the household either together or apart, but keep it that way while we go forward because otherwise, we will not all be working towards achieving our outcome. There you go: make your choice and stick with it.”
UK under lockdown
On March 24, Britain ordered a three-week lockdown to tackle the spread of coronavirus. The UK government ordered all non-essential shops and services to shut and they also banned gathering of more than two people. Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s announcement came after that recommendation by the government were ignored. Currently, UK has more than 8,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and the deadly virus have claimed more than 420 lives in the country.
The British government reportedly also warned that the virus is spreading faster than the authorities had predicted. While speaking to an international media outlet, London Mayor Sadiq Khan said that UK capital is a ‘few weeks ahead’ of the rest of the country and the way the virus is spreading faster than the government and advisers had thought. Khan believes that the advice given by the government to stop all ‘non-essential social contact’ is the right advice. He reportedly said that the authorities have to take sensible steps to avoid the virus from spreading faster.
Meanwhile, in a bid to support the economy, UK Finance Minister Rishi Sunak unveiled an ‘unprecedented’ wage boost. As per reports, Sunak announced that the UK government will be paying 80 per cent of wages for employees who are not working. The new measure is the ‘first time in the history’ that UK government will step in and pay people’s wages.
Updated 11:20 IST, March 25th 2020