Increasing Covid infection rate gives Morpeth cafe owner 'sleepless nights'
Report by Kris Jepson
A cafe owner from Morpeth in Northumberland has told ITV News Tyne Tees he is having "sleepless nights" for fear the government may impose working from home restrictions again.
The NHS Federation has called on the government to implement its Plan B, which would include mask wearing indoors and in certain settings and encouraging people to work from home.
On Tuesday, the UK recorded its highest daily death toll since March, with 223 people dying within 28 days of testing positive for coronavirus.
Paul Barker, who owns the Cube cafe, said: "If everybody tows the line, which we’re all told to wear masks, to abide by the rules and regulations, we wouldn’t be in this state we’re in at the moment and if he’s got to shut it down, there’s going to be a lot more businesses, even like us, that could lose our livelihoods.
"We’ve lost thousands, well a hundred and odd thousand and we’re panicking again, because we just don’t know where to turn. We’re starting having sleepless nights again. What can we do?"
Northumberland alone has seen a 15 to 20 per cent rise in infections in the last week and the Director of Public Health, Liz Morgan has urged people in the county to get the vaccine if they have not yet done so.
She said: "I would strongly encourage residents to take up the opportunities for both the Covid vaccine and the flu vaccine and secondly the booster programme also is really really important to increase immunity in those higher risk groups who will be most vulnerable."
Business Secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, said the government will not introduce a lockdown again this year and is sticking to its Plan A.
He said: "We successfully came out of the lockdown, we reopened the economy. We’re monitoring the data and we feel that as of now, today, the Plan A is what we’re going to be sticking with."
Meanwhile, Harrogate Grammar School has reintroduced mandatory mask wearing for its pupils.
Headteacher, Neil Renton, told ITV News: "We’re concerned as a school when we see children having to be at home because they’re ill and the rates are high in Harrogate at the moment, so we’re just trying to do our very best to make sure we put in measures that we can to keep the school as safe as possible."