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Day 8: Key points from Prime Minister's speech

Posted on March 2020 By Jamie Southwell

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Boris Johnson is presenting his daily speech alone tonight.

"From this evening I must give the British people a very simple instruction - you must stay at home," is the most crucial thing to take away from tonight. It's important to note, whilst this isn't an official lock-down, it does fall into a similar sort of action and consequences will occur for those who aren't following the strict curfew now set in place.

Key points to take away from today's speech are:

  • The time has finally come for the British public to stay in doors at all costs. Boris Johnson says it's "vital" for us to slow the spread of the disease, and that it's just not possible without forcing people to stay inside with certain measures.

  • From tonight onward, people will be allowed to leave their home for the following things:

    • Essential shopping, this is only permitted if required.

    • Medical requirements, providing care or assisting the vulnerable.

    • A form of exercise. This will include, but isn't limited to, running, walking, and cycling, either alone or with members of their household.

    • Travelling to and from work for non essential workers.

  • Police are permitted to use their powers for enforcing rules if you aren't following the given instructions from tonight. Activities like meeting up with friends and going shopping for non necessities, can lead to the police taking further action.

  • Closure of all non essential properties, such as clothing stores, libraries, gyms, electronic stores, playgrounds, and places of worship.

  • Cancellation of all social events, such as weddings, baptisms, and more, only known exception to this being funerals.

  • Restrictions to gatherings of more than two people, excluding those you live with.

  • All of the above will last three weeks, then depending on the severity of our situation, will continue accordingly.

  • "No prime minister wants to enact measures like this."

The overall amount of cases in the UK has now risen to 5,837, with that being 154 new cases since yesterday. Total number of deaths is now at 335.

To read a brief summary of last night's points and important measures click here.

Here's the full conference, courtesy of BBC: