Pubs, restaurants, gyms, leisure centres and cinemas across London will be told to close in a massive ramping up of measures to slow the coronavirus surge, reports The Evening Standard..
The drastic measures are set to be announced by Boris Johnson later this afternoon at his daily news conference.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock this morning dramatically ramped up the national appeal for people to “stay at home.”
“If you stay at home, you are saving lives,” he told TalkRadio. “I know, of course, this is a more dangerous disease for older people but not exclusively, some young people get it too.”
The capital has, so far, been hardest hit by the Covid-19 outbreak and the move is a massive ramping up of social distancing measures. Until now, Mr Johnson had only advised Britons to avoid pubs and other social gatherings.
It is believed 58 out of the 144 fatal cases have been in London as the city is several weeks ahead of the pandemic’s curve compared to the rest of the UK.
More to follow