U.K.'s Johnson on Covid Lockdown: A Stitch in Time Saves Nine

Boris Johnson appealed to Britons to obey new restrictions and work from home where possible to prevent the spread of coronavirus, warning there are “unquestionably difficult months to come.”

The U.K. risks “many more deaths, many more families losing loved ones before their time” if people fail to do their part, the prime minister said in a televised address on Tuesday evening. “The tragic reality of having Covid is that your mild cough can be someone else’s death knell.”

The call for the country to work together to get through winter came after Johnson ordered restaurants and bars to close earlier each night from Sept. 24 and scrapped plans to allow live audiences back into sporting events next month as his government tries to halt a surge of infections.

There will be tougher enforcement, Johnson said, with higher fines for people failing to wear face coverings where they are required by the rules. And the rules could be tightened further if the virus continues to run out of control.

“If we were forced into a new national lockdown, that would threaten not just jobs and livelihoods but the loving human contact on which we all depend,” he said. Earlier he told Parliament the restrictions would “remain in place for perhaps six months.”

The measures, which are being replicated across the U.K., mark a reversal of government efforts to re-open the economy after the first national lockdown shuttered social and commercial activity in March, sparking the country’s deepest recession in more than 100 years.

They also illustrate the dilemma facing the government as it tries to protect the economy while tackling a pandemic that’s killed more people in Britain than any other European nation. Johnson’s Chief Scientific Adviser Patrick Vallance warned Monday that without action, the U.K. is on track to register 50,000 new Covid-19 cases a day by mid-October.

Johnson insisted his plan is not a return to the full national lockdown of March, as the majority of the economy will remain open. “We are acting on the principle that a stitch in time saves nine,” he said.

By imposing restrictions now, the government can “shelter the economy from the far sterner and more costly measures that would inevitably become necessary later on,” Johnson told Parliament. He added that the public should assume the restrictions will be in place for “perhaps six months.”

The time-frame will be politically difficult for the premier, who has previously said he hoped some form of normality would be possible for the Christmas holidays.

The restrictions intensified pressure on Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak to roll out more measures to protect jobs and companies. The Treasury has spent more than 50 billion pounds ($64 billion) on supporting employment and has backed more than 57 billion pounds of loans to businesses, but those programs are due to end in the next few weeks.

The country’s biggest business lobby, the Confederation of British Industry, described the new rules as a “crushing blow” for thousands of companies and urged Sunak to defer taxes and announce a replacement for his furlough wage support program.

The British Chambers of Commerce, Institute of Directors and Federation of Small Businesses all backed up the CBI’s call for more help.

“It’s paramount that the government urgently steps forward with an ambitious second round of support measures to help firms survive,” said FSB National Chairman Mike Cherry. “Many businesses -- particularly those at the heart of our night-time economy and events industries -- are now seriously fearing for their futures.”

London Mayor Sadiq Khan called for more support for businesses in the capital and warned more restrictions may be needed for the city soon.

Some of Johnson’s Conservative MPs also raised concerns. “This will present a testing time particularly for retail and hospitality over the run-up to Christmas,” Conservative MP Cheryl Gillan said in an interview. “The chancellor must again rise to the challenge and continue to bolster some of the sectors to ensure we minimize the damage to the economy.”

Tory Edward Leigh said authorities should “trust people” to be careful. “The more controls you have, the more people question the logic, and the more they disobey them,” he said.

Other Conservatives, including health committee chairman Jeremy Hunt, raised concerns in Parliament about the availability of Covid-19 tests, particularly for teachers and pupils.

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