Coronavirus: Londoners urged to pay attention as Brits told to work from home
Londoners have been urged to pay “special attention” to new social distancing measures, including working from home and “shielding” of at-risk groups, as coronavirus begins to peak in the UK.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said Britons should “start working from home where they possibly can,” and should avoid pubs, restaurants and other social environments. But Londoners in particular have been urged to take this advice seriously, with the capital “some weeks ahead” on the curve spread.
Flanked by chief medical officer Chris Witty and chief scientific adviser Patrick Vallance, Johnson said the official advice for people with symptoms has been stepped up so that if “anyone in your household” has a fever and/or a persistent cough, everyone in the household should stay at home for 14 days.
Previously the advice was just for the affected individual to stay at home for seven days.
On top of this, the government is introducing measures to “shield” at risk groups, saying that avoiding “unnecessary social contact” is particularly important for people over 70, pregnant women and those with “some” health conditions.
By the weekend it will be necessary to go further and those with most serious health conditions should be shielded from most social contact for 12 weeks, he added. This period of shielding should coincide with peak of disease, and “it is now clear that the peak is coming faster in some parts of country than others”, Johnson said, pointing to London as being ahead of other parts.
Everyone in the UK needs to “stop non-essential contact with others and stop all non-essential travel”, the Prime Minister said.
Johnson added: “Londoners must pay special attention to this and take particularly seriously the advice about working from home and avoiding confined spaces such as pubs and restaurants”
He added: “We are asking people to do something that is difficult and disruptive to their lives.”
The plan had always been to get people to do things at the point when it would be most effective.
However the Prime Minister acknowledged the extent of the measures were hugely significant.
“It is very substantial change in the way we want people to live their lives,” Johnson said.
“I can’t remember anything like it in my lifetime. I don’t think there’s been anything like it in peacetime.”