Cafes, pubs and restaurants in the Burnham-On-Sea area will have to close from tonight, except for those serving take-away food, as part of an unprecedented nationwide move to tackle coronavirus by Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
All the UK’s nightclubs, theatres, cinemas, gyms and leisure centres have also been asked to close “as soon as they reasonably can”.
Mr Johnson said the situation will be reviewed each month.
The chancellor has also said the government will pay 80% of wages for employees who are not working, up to £2,500 a month.
Speaking at today’s Downing Street press briefing, Mr Johnson said the measures would be enforced “strictly” and that licensing arrangements will make doing so “relatively simple”.
He urged people not to go out tonight, stressing: “For now, at least physically, we need to keep people apart.”
The prime minister added: “The more effectively we follow the advice we are given, the faster this country will stage both a medical and an economic recovery in full.”
Speaking at the briefing, Chancellor Rishi Sunak said the new measures to help employees out of work were “unprecedented”.
He appealed to employers to stand by their workers during the coronavirus crisis, in the take of many firms warning of collapse.
