ALL PUBS, bars, clubs, cafes, restaurants, gyms and leisure centres across the UK have been told by the Prime Minister they must shut tonight and not reopen tomorrow as part of the fight against COVID-19.
The forced closures were announced by Boris Johnson in his latest 5pm press conference.
He said everyone had a ‘joint objective’ to defeat the virus and stressed the measures were necessary but would be temporary.
He praised those who had made a sacrifice since Monday to avoid pubs, clubs and restaurants and added these actions were now needed to ‘protect the NHS’ and to ‘save thousands of lives’.
Venues which offer takeaway services will be exempt from closure for that purpose.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced the Government would pay 80 per cent of workers’ salaries up to £2,500-a-month.
He labelled it an ‘unprecedented step’ in the UK’s history saying no British Government had done anything like this before.
