Residents in the Burnham-On-Sea area must stay at home except for permitted reasons as a third national Coronavirus lockdown gets underway.
All local schools and colleges are now closed to most pupils, with a switch to remote learning in place until the middle of February.
In a televised address to the nation last night, Prime Minister Boris Johnson told the public to follow the new lockdown rules immediately, before they become law in the early hours of Wednesday. All the new measures in England will then last until at least mid-February.
The PM warned the coming weeks would be the “hardest yet” amid surging virus cases and patient numbers.
New lockdown restrictions now in force:
- People cannot leave their homes except for certain reasons, like the first lockdown last March
- These include essential medical needs, food shopping, exercise and work for those who cannot do so from home
- All schools and colleges will close to most pupils from Tuesday with remote learning until February half term
- Early years settings such as nurseries will stay open
- End-of-year exams will not take place this summer as normal
- Elsewhere, university students should not return to campuses and will be taught online
- Restaurants can continue to offer food delivery, but takeaway alcohol will be banned
- Outdoor sports venues – such as golf courses, tennis courts and outside gyms – must close
- But outdoor playgrounds will remain open
- Amateur team sports are not allowed
The PM also said those in the top four priority groups would be offered a first vaccine dose by the middle of next month. All care home residents and their carers, everyone aged 70 and over, all frontline health and social care workers, and the clinically extremely vulnerable will be offered one dose of a vaccine by mid-February.
Burnham-On-Sea has also seen an increase in its Covid cases with 48 cases over the seven days to December 30th. Highbridge had 18 new cases over the same period.
On Monday, the UK saw 58,784 new cases and an additional 407 deaths within 28 days of a positive test result were reported.
