UK coronavirus LIVE: Lockdown flouters ‘increasingly likely’ to be fined as supermarkets crack down on masks
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enior police officers have warned that lockdown flouters are “increasingly likely” to face fines amid a supermarket crackdown on shoppers who refuse to wear masks in their stores. Metropolitan Police Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick issued the warning as she said it was “preposterous” that anyone could be unaware of the need to follow the stringent measures design to curb the spread of Covid-19.
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London Covid cases by borough revealed amid hopes capital’s second wave may have peaked
The data shows the number of confirmed cases are down in a swathe of south west London, with the biggest drop in Richmond of just over 16 per cent in the week to January 6.
Crime and policing minister Kit Malthouse says it is “perfectly reasonable” to go on a bike ride as long as it is “local”
“Local is obviously open to interpretation but people broadly know when local means if you can get there under your own steam and your not interacting with anybody and you are genuinely taking exercise and not going out for social exercise, then that seems perfectly reasonable to me.”
Mr Malthouse says there’s a “strong case” for vaccinating police once most vulnerable groups have been offered a jab
When asked about the stats that say 1 in 6 police officers are off sick, Mr Malthouse told Sky News that lateral flow testing was being rolled out to hopefully release some officers who are currently isolating.
Mr Malthouse says 99% of people are complying when pressed on whether police should enforce mask wearing at supermarkets
He said: “We’re hoping by communicating what we have today, by presenting a united front, by helping retailers and others, we can reach some kind of compliance where the numbers fall.”
Kit Malthouse says it is our “collective mission” to follow the rules
When asked about the language he used to speak about Dominic Cummings in May, Mr Malthouse said: “We recognise that this lockdown is terrible for everybody – for kids, for families, for people who have been seperated from elderley parents – and I hope that we can be kind to each other and in particular kind to our police who are doing a really difficult job but the point is we all have to recognise our collective mission to make sure that this is the last serious lockdown.”
Crime and policing minister Kit Malthouse stresses we must stick to the rules if we want this to be the last lockdown
He told Sky News: “If we’re going to make sure that this is the last lockdown, we all need to stick to the rules and take it really seriously. And unfortunately we haven’t seen that in minority parts of the country who are frankly letting us down.”
Crime and policing minister Kit Malthouse says “vast majority” of people are following the rules
Mr Malthouse told Sky News: “We’re at a very perilous stage in the progress of this virus.
If we’re going to get through this stage, it’s very important that we stick to the rules. “We have seen very high compliance, the vast majority of people are complying, but we do have a small number of people who aren’t. We’re trying to say to them, as a united voice, please do stick to the rules.”
Royal Mail publishes list of Covid blackspots
The zones – comprising 27 in England and one in Northern Ireland – are no longer receiving regular post because of the high numbers of Royal Mail staff who are either off sick or self-isolating.
The affected areas include 13 in or near London, while others include Leeds in West Yorkshire, Chelmsford in Essex, Widnes in Cheshire and Margate in Kent. With some affected residents complaining of not having had mail delivered for more than a month, fears have also arisen that elderly residents will not receive notifications of when a coronavirus vaccine is available to them. Valerie Wallbank from Hainault in north-east London told the Ilford Recorder she had not received any mail since December 12.
“It’s quite serious,” she told the paper. “Some people are not bothered because they do everything online but for some of us it’s quite important.
