[Epoch Times, July 22, 2021](Reported by The Epoch Times UK Reporter) A poll conducted on the eve of England’s final unblocking on July 19 revealed that more than half of the respondents believed that the government’s current unblocking was wrong.
According to this survey conducted by the polling company YouGov for The Times, 55% of the respondents said that the number of new cases is increasing significantly, so it is wrong to unblock it now.
Thirty-one percent of respondents said they would be happy to attend the party in the next few weeks, but 53% said they would not do so.
34% said they were happy to go to the theater now, and 48% said they would not go.
The survey shows that people who hold reservations are not just elderly people. More than half (53%) of 18-24 year-olds say they will not go to nightclubs.
New cases seem to stabilize
On July 20, the number of deaths reported by the United Kingdom was 96, which was nearly double that of a week ago and the highest point since March 24.
On the 21st, the United Kingdom notified 44,104 new confirmed cases, an increase of about 1,800 from a week ago. Last week, there were more than 50,000 new cases for two consecutive days.
However, whether a complete unblocking will lead to a sharp rise in the epidemic will take some time to reach a conclusion.
Supermarkets encourage wearing masks
Although starting this Monday (July 19), British law no longer requires residents of England to wear masks in closed public places, but big supermarkets, shops, hospitals, and Transport for London have all expressed that they will encourage or even require people to continue to wear masks. Masks.
Sainsbury’s first stated that whether to wear a mask will be a personal choice, but for the safety of shop assistants and other customers, they hope that customers continue to wear masks.
Subsequently, Tesco, Asda, Aldi, Waitrose, Lidl and Morrisons also said that they would encourage customers to continue to wear masks.
Tesco also said that they will retain some other measures, such as continuing to use the traffic light system at the entrance, requiring customers to keep their distance, limiting the number of people shopping in the store, and retaining the protective screen at the checkout counter.
John Lewis Partnership stated that their John Lewis department store and Waitrose supermarket would advise customers and shop assistants to continue to wear masks, but this is ultimately a personal choice.
These supermarkets said that they encourage customers to wear masks, but they will not refuse to let customers who do not wear masks enter.
London’s public transport system, including subways, buses, light rail, etc., as well as Manchester’s trams, also require passengers to continue to wear masks. And these regulations are added to the contract between the passenger and the bus operating agency, which means that this is a statutory requirement. Passengers who refuse to wear masks may be denied boarding.
Doctors, nurses, policemen all wear masks
The chief nurse in England has required all staff, patients and visitors in the NHS system to wear masks in hospitals and clinics and other NHS clinics and pay attention to social distancing.
The National Police Chiefs’ Council, an agency representing police chiefs across the UK, wrote to all police officers, stating that the “existing disease control measures” should continue, which means that the police also need to continue to wear masks.
Even some taverns will retain some existing epidemic prevention measures.
The latest guidelines published by the British government on July 18 said: “The government looks forward to and recommends that people wear masks in crowded areas like public transportation.”
At ports of entry, such as airports and ports, social distancing regulations will continue to be maintained to prevent entrants from carrying variant viruses.
The Welsh government retains the requirement to wear a mask. If you enter Wales by train, passengers need to wear masks after entering Wales, and this is a local legal requirement. ◇
Editor in charge: Chen Bin
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