Lockdown plan emerges: masks at work, visitor quarantine and more cycle lanes
The next steps in England's lockdown plan are becoming clearer after the Government indicated it would reopen garden centres, encourage commuters to use bikes and potentially quarantine foreign visitors.
A report by The Times suggested those visiting the country will have to fill in a digital form and declare an address where they will then be expected to self-isolate for 14 days.
Travellers could face fines of up to £1,000 and even deportation if spot checks later find they have flouted the rules, which the report claimed could be introduce in June.
Briefing reporters on Friday, Downing Street confirmed quarantining foreign visitors was being “looked at” as a way of guarding the country against a second peak in the transmission rate.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “I think ministers have said the issue of looking to ensure, as we really drive down transmission in the UK, that we are able to ensure the virus is not being brought into the country from overseas is one they are actively considering.”
The strict clampdown is set to be part of a “road map” revealed by the Prime Minister during his address to the nation on Sunday evening in which he will set out the stages for lifting the lockdown.
Boris Johnson will also recommend workers wear masks when they do return to work and when using public transport, The Daily Telegraph reported.
It has been confirmed to the PA news agency that Mr Johnson will announce that garden centres will be allowed to open their doors to customers from Wednesday May 13.
Nursery bosses will have to ensure shoppers obey social distancing measures, such as keeping two metres away from others, and will be expected to put restrictions in place, including queuing systems and installing Perspex shields to protect till staff, in a similar way to supermarkets.
A senior Government source said: “Garden centres are typically open large open-air spaces where the risk of transmission of coronavirus is lower.
“With strict social distancing measures in place we believe they can open safely from next week.”
And it is understood ministers are preparing to recommend that commuters use their bicycles for journeys to work, in a bid to reduce the number of people using public transport.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps is set to use his appearance at the Downing Street briefing on Saturday to unveil a further £250 million for extra cycle lanes, while trials on the use of e-scooters on British roads are due to be fast-tracked, PA understands.
Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford said he expects Wales’s “very modest” lockdown easing to be in line with what Boris Johnson will announce for England.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We were clearly convinced that only the very smallest and most modest steps … were allowable at this time.
“You’ve heard what the Prime Minister’s spokesman has been saying over the last couple of days, that the Prime Minister also thinks maximum caution is the way to approach the immediate future.
“We’ll hear from the Prime Minister on Sunday the details of what he proposes for England, my view is we’ll be very much in line with one another.
“Our new regime won’t come in until Monday, so we’ll move in a timely way together across the UK and I still think that is very much a preferable route.”
But in Scotland, only alterations to exercise guidance are expected, while those in Northern Ireland have been told there will be just “nuanced changes” to the clampdown on movement.
Those in England will have to wait until 7pm on Sunday for the PM to formally declare the result of the UK Government’s review into what rule changes should be brought in for England.
The PM has promised to exercise “maximum caution” when tinkering with the restrictions after official data suggested more than 36,000 people had died with coronavirus in the UK since the pandemic broke.
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