Covid: Pubs and restaurants in England to have 10pm
closing times
All pubs, bars, restaurants and other hospitality venues in England must have a 22:00 closing
time from Thursday, to help curb the spread of coronavirus.
The sector will also be restricted by law to table service only.
The measures will be set out by the prime minister in Parliament before an address to
the nation to be broadcast live at 20:00 BST on Tuesday.
It comes as the UK's Covid-19 alert level moved to 4, meaning transmission is "high or rising
exponentially".
Boris Johnson is also expected to stress the need for people to follow social distancing
guidelines, wear face coverings and wash their hands regularly.
And, according to newspaper reports, he will urge people to work from home where it does
not negatively impact businesses.
The government's chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance has warned there could be 50,000
new coronavirus cases a day by mid-October without further action - which, he said, could lead
to more than 200 deaths per day by mid-November.
On Monday, a further 4,368 daily cases and 11 deaths were reported in the UK. There were
3,899 cases reported on Sunday.
Further restrictions will also be announced in Scotland on Tuesday, while restrictions on
households mixing indoors will be extended to all of Northern Ireland.
Also from 18:00 on Tuesday, four more counties in south Wales will face new measures,
including a 23:00 curfew for pubs and bars.
The UK cabinet will meet on Tuesday morning and Boris Johnson will also chair a Cobra
emergency meeting - which will be attended by the leaders of Scotland, Wales and Northern
Ireland.
Speaking about the new closing times, a No 10 spokesperson said: "No-one underestimates
the challenges the new measures will pose to many individuals and businesses.
"We know this won't be easy, but we must take further action to control the resurgence in
cases of the virus and protect the NHS."
Tighter restrictions on pub and restaurant opening times are already in place in parts of north-
east and north-west England, and Wales.
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