The British public should report their neighbours to the police if they host gatherings of more than six people, a minister has said as new restrictions to contain Covid-19 come into force.
The so-called ‘rule of six’ now legally limits social gatherings to six people both indoors and outdoors in England and Scotland, but indoors only in Wales.
Kit Malthouse, the policing minister, said “the option is open” to members of the public to phone the police non-emergency number to report concerns about neighbours breaking the rule of six, telling BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “If they are concerned and they do see that kind of thing then absolutely they should ring the number.”
Guidance on how police officers should enforce the new law has not yet been issued to forces, with Mr Malthouse saying it will be circulated by the College of Policing in “the next few days”.
Britain’s largest police force, the Metropolitan Police, said in a statement on Monday that officers would be patrolling public spaces to disperse large groups.
But Mr Malthouse added: “What we’re hoping is that we will see for the rule of six what we saw for the initial lockdown, which was extremely high compliance from the British people.”
8:31am
Not enough testing capacity to allow care home visitors, care home operator says
Family members are being stopped from making regular visits to care homes because they cannot be included in the testing programme, a care group has said.
Dan Ryan, the director of operations at Methodist Homes, said visits were still taking place in gardens and through windows of care homes across the country.
But family members would need to become part of the “testing regime” for the visits to be more routine, he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
He said: “It’s really not a possibility at the moment, my understanding is there just isn’t capacity in the system.
“We’re provided with enough tests by the Government to make sure we have weekly testing for our staff and monthly testing for our residents.
“I think if we had the opportunity to bring in one family member per resident and do the testing alongside our staff, we would be very welcoming of that.”
8:03am
British public should take ‘personal responsibility’ with new rules, police chief says
A police chief has sought to downplay suggestions that new Covid-19 rules will rely on the British public to “grass up” anyone gathering in groups of more than six people.
Martin Hewitt, the chair of the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), said fines for breaching the rules on large gatherings would be an important way of enforcing the latest law limiting social gatherings.
Asked if the system needed the public to “grass up” their neighbours, he told BBC Breakfast: “I don’t think I would describe it as that at all, I think what it relies on is us being responsible.
“I think it is about everybody accepting their own personal responsibility.”
7:49am
Workers worried about lack of social distancing, TUC says
Frances O’Grady, the general secretary of the TUC union, has warned many workers were concerned about a lack of social distancing in the workplace.
She urged the Government to make it a requirement for employers to publish risk assessments for staff and the community to see whether a workplace is safe.
Speaking on BBC Breakfast, she said: “As we’ve seen in Leicester it only takes one cowboy employer to shut down a whole city.
“We all have an interest in tough safety standards in the workplace.”
6:51am
Consumers face ‘rip-off’ testing scams, say trading standards officers
Criminals will exploit new quick Covid testing kits to rip off consumers, say trading standards officials as they issued a checklist of pandemic scams.
In a new intelligence report, National Trading Standards (NTS) warned consumers of price gouging traders would seek to profiteer from specific products such as instant-result Covid-19 tests and other “high-demand” products.
It follows traders exploiting demand for sanitizers and face masks at the start of the pandemic when they were in short supply. Price gouging on such products sparked 1,600 complaints in London alone.
6:20am
Indonesia’s restrictions begin as hospitals struggle to cope
Main streets were less crowded as Indonesia’s capital began two weeks of social restrictions on Monday to curb a rise of coronavirus infections that has pushed its critical-care hospital capacity to unsafe levels.
Police at checkpoints imposed sanctions on bikers that did not wear their masks. But business owners were confused, and workers said supporting the health care system, strained by Covid-19 patients, should be the priority.
Jakarta Gov. Anies Baswedan announced the restrictions on Sunday, to last from Monday to Sept. 27, in what he described as an emergency decision to control a rapid expansion in cases in Jakarta.
Jakarta previously imposed large-scale social restrictions from April to June, then eased the gradually with businesses reopening and using health protocols.
But the virus has spread significantly since June, and medical facilities are filling with sick patients. Seven of 67 Covid-19 referral hospitals in Jakarta are 100 per cent occupied, while 46 are more than 60 per cent occupied.
Officers stand guard at a police check point as the large-scale restriction is imposed to curb the spread of the coronavirus outbreak in Jakarta
5:29am
Australian official under police guard over virus measures
An Australian health official revealed on Monday that she has been under police guard because of death threats and growing public anger over pandemic border restrictions.
Queensland state Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said she now travelled with a police escort because of the threats.
“It has taken an enormous toll on me, but then this has taken an enormous toll on nearly every single person in our community,” Ms Young told reporters.
“Every single person in our community in Queensland has had to give up an awful lot and we can’t see a clear end to this so we’re going to all have to work this through together,” she added.
The Queensland state government has been under mounting criticism for making travellers spend two weeks in hotel quarantine when they cross the state border from other parts of Australia.
5:12am
Israel to reimpose lockdown as WHO reports record cases
Israel said it will reimpose a national lockdown to battle a coronavirus surge, as the number of daily infections around the world reached a record high.
Britain, France, Austria and the Czech Republic also reported spikes, as global cases rapidly approached 29 million with more than 921,000 Covid-19 deaths, according to an AFP tally.
The Israel lockdown will last three weeks starting on Friday, keeping people to within 500 metres of their homes. It is the first developed economy to take such drastic steps to contain a second wave of infections.
“I know these measures will exact a heavy price from all of us,” said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The World Health Organisation reported 307,930 new cases worldwide on Sunday, the highest daily figure in its database since the beginning of the pandemic.
