New UK coronavirus restrictions: What you can and can’t do

U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson ordered England back into a national lockdown Monday night that will last for at least seven weeks.

“The Government is once again instructing you to stay at home,” he told citizens in a televised address that revived the “stay at home, protect the NHS and save lives” message of the first lockdown in spring.

Earlier on Monday, the chief medical officers of all four U.K. nations recommended the nationwide COVID alert level move from level 4 to level 5 — the first time it has hit its most severe level.

“We are not confident that the NHS can handle a further sustained rise in cases and without further action, there is a material risk of the NHS in several areas being overwhelmed over the next 21 days,” the group declared. 

And Johnson’s announcement followed one by Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon earlier in the day in which she put her country under similar restrictions including a new legal requirement to stay at home for all but essential purposes.

Here’s a rundown of the new rules:

New measures in England

The new restrictions come into effect legally on Wednesday, but the PM said people should start following them straight away. They’re broadly in line with the March lockdown, with a few notable differences. There will be a review in the week beginning February 15, with ministers hoping to lift the national restrictions and return to a tiered system when half-term is over in the week of February 22. You can read the rules in full here.

STRONGER STAY AT HOME MESSAGE: People in England can only leave home for one of five reasons: 

1. To go to work if it is “impossible” for you to work from home, for example if you work in construction.

2. To shop for essentials such as food or medicine. 

3. For exercise, which you can do with members of your household, your support bubble, or with one other person from a different household (a change from March).

4. To provide care or help to a vulnerable person.

5. And for medical reasons or to escape domestic violence or harm.

ENFORCEMENT: As with before, police will have legal powers to ensure compliance, including fines. A government official told POLITICO’s London Playbook that, while they insist they are not trying to blame the public, there is mounting evidence of non-compliance with the previous rules that has contributed to the greater spread of the virus.

SCHOOLS CLOSED: From Tuesday, all primary and secondary schools and colleges will move to remote learning, apart from children of key workers, who will still go in. That will have a knock-on effect for GCSE and A level exams. “It is not possible or fair for all exams to go ahead this summer as normal. The education secretary will work with Ofqual to put in place alternative arrangements,” Johnson said in his televised address. The Telegraph reports that: “One option under consideration is for some core subjects, such as Maths and English, to be examined, with other subjects reverting to course assessment.” BTEC and other vocational exams will still go ahead this week.

PRE-SCHOOL: Nurseries and early years providers will remain open.

HIGHER EDUCATION: Students can’t go back to universities. They’ll be expected to study from their current place of residence.

SHOPS: Essential stores can stay open, including garden centers and builders’ merchants. Dentists and opticians remain open. But all non-essential retail, hospitality and personal care services must close.

RESTAURANTS: Can continue takeaway services, but click-and-collect alcohol and takeaway pints are banned. 

PLAYGROUNDS: Will remain open, unlike in March.

ZOOS: Closed.

SUPPORT BUBBLES AND CHILDCARE BUBBLES: Staying — another change from March.

AMATEUR SPORT: Outdoor sports venues including tennis courts and golf courses must close. Outdoor team sports will not be permitted.

ELITE SPORT: Permitted — including Premier League football.

SHIELDING RETURNS: Clinically extremely vulnerable people should stay at home as much as possible and only leave for exercise and health appointments. They should not go to work and should avoid shops.

CLEANERS AND BUILDERS: You can still have people into your house to do work.

PROPERTY: House moving and viewings still allowed.

DRIVING TESTS: Suspended.

TRAVEL WITHIN THE UK: Traveling long distances across the country is not permitted (bad news for any government advisers on eyesight testing trips to Barnard Castle).

INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL: Only essential journeys are permitted, so no holidays.

PUBLIC SUPPORT: Savanta ComRes has a snap poll in which 79 percent support the new lockdown — but 62 percent say the government reacted too slowly, including 53 percent of 2019 Conservative voters.

THE WAY OUT: Unlike with the other lockdowns, Johnson has outlined a pretty clear, if ambitious exit strategy: vaccinating some 13 million elderly and vulnerable people by mid-March. A health official told London Playbook: “The vaccine is the way out of this and through our delivery plan, we expect to offer around 13 million people their first dose by the middle of February. This is a massive national effort for the country to rally around.”

Coronavirus measures in Scotland

STAY AT HOME: Staying at home for everything except essential travel became a legal requirement from midnight, after First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced additional restrictions Monday on top of the lockdown mainland Scotland has been under since Boxing Day. Schools will also remain closed to the vast majority of pupils until February. Sturgeon indicated that she is more concerned about the virus than she has been “at any time since March last year,” adding that at the current rate of hospitalizations, NHS services could be overrun within three to four weeks. Scottish government guidance here.

Coronavirus measures in Wales

ONLINE LEARNING: The government and First Minister Mark Drakeford bowed to pressure from teaching unions to make a national decision on school closures, with the education minister announcing Monday night that online learning will continue in all schools until at least January 18. Some schools were due to return as soon as Wednesday, and Health Minister Vaughan Gething told a press conference just hours earlier that such a move was “a last resort” they hoped not to use. Wales has been under a spring-style stay at home lockdown since before Christmas.

Coronavirus measures in Northern Ireland

EXTENDED REMOTE LEARNING: A late meeting of the Executive found agreement to join the other nations in putting stay at home into law and extending a period of remote learning at schools, with more details to be published Tuesday. Northern Ireland’s seven-day rate of cases per 100,000 people is now 660 — more than triple what it was two weeks ago.

This article is part of POLITICO’s premium policy service: Pro HealthCare. From drug pricing, EMA, vaccines, pharma and more, our specialized journalists keep you on top of the topics driving the health care policy agenda. Email [email protected] for a complimentary trial.