FILE PHOTO: Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks during a news conference on the ongoing situation with the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in London, Britain March 22, 2020. Ian Vogler/Pool via REUTERS
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain will stop weddings and other large gatherings and will close shops and playgrounds to get citizens to comply with instructions to stay at home to mitigate the coronavirus pandemic, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday.
Johnson said that all shops selling non-essential goods would be closed, along with libraries and places of worship, and that all social events would be stopped other than funerals.
“We will stop all gatherings of more than two people in public – excluding people you live with. Parks will remain open for exercise but gatherings will be dispersed,” Johnson said in a broadcast address.
“We will keep these restrictions under constant review. We will look again in three weeks, and relax them if the evidence shows we are able to.”
Reporting by William James and Andy Bruce, writing by Alistair Smout