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WEARING A FACE covering in shops and supermarkets is to be made mandatory in England in a fresh move to stop the spread of the coronavirus, the British government announced last night.
In a statement today, Health Secretary Matt Hancock will say anyone failing to comply with the order – which comes into force on July 24 – could face a fine of up to £100 (€110).
The move follows a weekend of confusion over whether ministers intended to make face coverings compulsory after Boris Johnson said they were looking at “stricter” rules.
The senior Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove said on Sunday he did not believe they should be mandatory and that it was better to “trust people’s common sense”.
However, during a visit to the London Ambulance Service on Monday, Prime Minister Johnson offered the clearest signal he was going down the route of compulsion, saying the government was looking at the “tools of enforcement”.
Ahead of Tuesday’s announcement by Hancock, a No 10 spokesman said: “There is growing evidence that wearing a face covering in an enclosed space helps protect individuals and those around them from coronavirus.
“The Prime Minister has been clear that people should be wearing face coverings in shops and we will make this mandatory from July 24.”
The move will bring England into line with Scotland, where face coverings are already mandatory in shops.
The government has been urging people to wear face coverings in confined spaces such as shops since early May and they have already been made compulsory on public transport in England since mid-June.
The regulations will be made under the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984, with a maximum fine of £100 (€110) – reduced to £50 (€55) if it is paid within 14 days.
Enforcement of the regulations will be the responsibility of the police.
While shop workers will be asked to encourage compliance, retailers and businesses will not be expected to enforce them.
As is the case on public transport, children under 11 and those with certain disabilities will be exempt.
Businesses
The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) said the government needed to issue detailed guidance on the new requirement “as soon as possible”.
“Businesses need clarity on the approach to the wearing of face coverings that is consistent and supported by public health evidence,” said BCC co-executive director Claire Walker.
“Updated guidance, including on enforcement, should be issued swiftly so firms can maintain their Covid-secure status and continue their operations successfully.”
In the early days of the pandemic, ministers and the Government’s scientific advisers repeatedly played down the value of face coverings, saying the evidence on the benefits was thin.
There were also thought to be concerns stocks could be diverted from the NHS at a time of intense pressure on the supply of personal protective equipment (PPE) if the public were encouraged to wear them.
However, speaking during his visit to the London Ambulance Service, Mr Johnson said he was now keen to make progress on the issue.
“As the virus comes down in incidence and we have more and more success, I think face coverings are a kind of extra insurance we can all use to stop it coming back and stop it getting out of control again,” he said.
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Makes you cry. Govt body keeping secrets, from the public.
@micheal duff: fix the pipes with your billions instead of spending on useless things.
hello ??.. ah yes there is nobody home… too busy with with rights and speech.
@micheal duff: I wonder Buster do the people you steal their profile picture know you use them on this site with your multiple profiles?
@micheal duff: so basically Journal Investigates in conjunction with Irish Water need to build a case for water levies directly on households and needs to build evidence through consumer complaints of unsustainable infrastructure in order to build that case to Gov, for to make another push to further this agenda.
Why didn’t the TDs and councillors direct their constituents to make a direct complaint? In fairness, everyone should know to make a complaint to the responsible entity – TD/councillor should only be a last resort. €30 compensation is an absolute insult and doesn’t even cover the time to make & follow up on the complaint. The attempt to block the foi request was equally pathetic – how can a state/semi state body claim that reporting the truth might be a bad thing? This country has really gone downhill.
@Social Guy: because once elected that was not their problem. not once they even made a statement about all that. they were forming a big gvt and got and still busy with speech rights and look after themselves. MM love nothing else to lecture everyone on international politics but never cared about the people. neutrality is not a concern either for him
@Social Guy: that’s how “national” politics work in this country… The gombeen way: fix the potholes and attend funerals.
I even know of a foreign (European) national getting his local TD to contact his embassy in Dublin to expedite a passport renewal. Seriously?
@Social Guy: Agree, but would like to add, 1) TD’s & local councillors more than likely don’t/didn’t know about the €30 compensation scheme, 2) people are getting lazy. If they can get someone else to complain on their behalf, it make life easy for them. The time it took to send a letter/email, or indeed, make an appointment to see their local government representative, they would have had a communication sent of to the company.
Just more fffg bolicitics. People, please relise fffg are a failure. They don’t care. It’s not rocket science.
@Paul Gorry: If they were a failure and the people realised it, how are they now in government again? Must be that people voted for them.
@Eoin McCarthy: No shi,t sherlock.
@Eoin McCarthy: people of this country are its own worst enemy…
Irish Water does not have customers. It is a state-owned Dept. Very unusual article. Because it’s a state owned dept, surely going your local representative is the correct move?
@pat fogarty: It’s not a department. It is a private company with the state as its largest shareholder. Company number 530363 (CRO).
@Stephen Fitzgerald: yes you are correct for the most part. Except for the “the state is its largest shareholder” don’t want to not pick but I think is important for everyone to know.
This is copied directly from Irish waters website on corporate governence –
“The shareholders of Uisce Éireann are the Minister for Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform and the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage and, on that basis, Uisce Éireann is a state-owned entity.”
So, the ONLY shareholders in uisce eireann are state bodies.
Ireland needs its very own DOGE, I can just imagine what corruption would come to light.
@Pelagius Asturias: never going to happen unfortunately
Our water filtration company from Wexford has proven in a year long pilot in Canada to prevent the carcinogenic chemical THM from forming in potable water.
In 2017 a prime time report stated over 170,000 people in Ireland were drinking water Exceeding the 100U/gl WHO guidelines for THM
After 7 months of paperwork we were granted a Zoom call with Uisce Éireann.
We offered to run a free pilot on any water treatment plant that was failing THM guidelines.
We were told that our proven filtration system would not work on THM’s in Ireland ?
They would not be taken us up on the offer of a free trial ?
We have offered free trials to Uisce Éireann on manganese and iron removal from potable Water which we have a proven to have a 90% reduction using our filtration system.
No reply to date?
@Les Walsh: that’s just weird and needs investigation
and Who set up Irish Water? TD’s and Senators along with the President signing stealth tax legislation on already crippled taxpayers.
In other words, ‘we don’t want people to know how big a problem it is because then they will know how big a problem it is’. Honestly, is there a single thing the government does well?
ireland + pharmaceutical =Dark waters
How can you get compensation for something you don’t pay for
@Max: I’m afraid that’s the country we live in now, want everything for nothing and compo for everything
@Martin Kenny: Guess you are retired with a good pension and maybe have a bit of property?
@donal finn: no, but please explain your reasons for that assumption
@Max: exactly.
@Martin Kenny: well said.How people come up with these assumptions is beyond me.Even if you were retired on a big pension and had property what has that got to do with it.
@Max: it’s long been established that we do pay for it through general taxation including, strangely ill admit, car tax….where do you think their funding comes from, the magic money tree…
@Max: you are entitled a good standard of customer service , which is in their charter. If they fail they pay.
@Max: if they failed to deliver proper customer service they pay.
Customers
Journal ‘reporter’? That’s a laugh. Get a proof reader while you are at it. FFG mouthpiece.
Is our water save to Drink ? is the question I want answered. I started drinking water from a “spring well” that is running constantly for the past few months and just the other day at work, I decided to get water from the cooler. Well, could I taste the difference. I thought I was back in the swimming pool where I swallowed the water there. OMG, is this safe I said to myself. 1st person I went to was one of our colleagues who is pregnant. Told her to stop drinking this water immediately and gave her directions to get the spring water to drink in future.
SSE Airtricity gas and electricity should be next up for an investigation into their so called customer service.
30 euro…. not worth 15 of my time
have your say