Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has said that the government could impose a second national lockdown if the new social distancing measures do not stop the spread of coronavirus.
On Tuesday afternoon, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that from Thursday, all pubs and other hospitality venues would be under a 10 pm curfew, with all bar orders banned to be replaced by table service.
Other strict measures include forcing staff in shops to wear masks, while patrons at restaurants and pubs will have to wear masks unless they are at a table eating and drinking.
The government did not announce the speculated two-week lockdown over October. However, speaking to Sky News on Wednesday, the foreign secretary said that a lockdown might be imposed if the new measures do not work.
Mr Raab said: “We’ve always said we’ve got a sort of repository of measures in the arsenal to take.“I don’t think we would speculate about what further could be done.