the times | Thursday August 6 2020 2GM 11
News
Cafés enjoy a
Sunak boost
Customers are flocking to cafés
and restaurants to take advantage
of the government’s 50 per cent
subsidy on meals out, according to
data seen by The Times.
Under the “eat out to help out”
scheme introduced by Rishi
Sunak, the chancellor, transactions
rose by more than 16 per cent on
Monday compared with the same
day the previous week. The
scheme, expected to cost the
Treasury £500 million, offers
half-price food and non-alcoholic
drinks at participating venues up
to a saving of £10 per person. The
discount will apply Monday to
Wednesday throughout August to
encourage people to return to
restaurants after they were forced
to close for months.
The British Hospitality
Association said that 85 per cent
of its members were taking part.
Card data from Sum Up, a
contactless payments operator,
shows that transactions increased
by 16.4 per cent in cafés and
restaurants on Monday. It also
showed that the scheme may be
encouraging people to spend
elsewhere before or after they
had eaten out.Blight of ‘long Covid’
Up to 500,000 Covid-19 patients
in Britain suffer long-term
symptoms such as psychosis,
fatigue and mobility issues, MPs
were told yesterday. Claire Hastie,
of the Long Covid Support Group,
said that data from a tracker made
by King’s College London showed
that 200,000 to 500,000 people
were affected. Doctors often
misdiagnosed problems as anxiety
or chronic fatigue, she added.Bride’s smile is spared
Brides, grooms and priests will be
exempt from a new rule on
wearing facemasks in churches as
the government moves to expand
the list of settings where they must
be worn. From Saturday masks
will have to be worn in places of
worship, including during services
and weddings, the Church of
England has said, with masks
mandatory for priests when giving
out sacramental wine and bread.Scientists smell a rat
The animals that like to make a
home around humans — bats, rats
and perching birds — also contain
the viruses that like to make a
home inside us, according to
researchers at University College
London. Writing in Nature they
said that the more humans
encroached on the natural world,
the more we encouraged contacts
that could result in viruses
jumping the species barrier.Mayor quits over breach
The mayor of Luton has resigned
after breaking the coronavirus
guidelines at a garden gathering.
Tahir Malik said stepping down
was the “best thing” to do. Pictures
were circulated on social media
last month showing him at a house
in Luton talking with other guests
less than 2m apart. The gathering
was held days before Luton was
named an “area of intervention”
over the number of virus cases.coronavirus in brief
6 Thousands of dementia cases are
thought to have been missed since
February. NHS data shows that the
number being given a diagnosis has
fallen by 29,000 during the pandemic.
Experts say this could lead to a more
rapid deterioration for patients. Figures
for May show that a fifth of deaths from
Covid-19 in England and Wales were
among people with dementia.
Alzheimer’s risk, page 18
ment across the healthcare system
being cancelled. The survey found that
while pulmonary rehabilitation, a pro-
gramme involving exercise and breath-
ing techniques, is being used effectively
for people recovering from Covid-19,
two fifths of people who already had
lung conditions have had this treat-
ment cancelled.
Asthma UK and the British Lung
Foundation are now urging that all rou-
tine respiratory care, such as annual re-
views and inhaler technique checks, be
resumed as soon as possible.
Andy Whittamore, a GP for Asthma
UK, said the findings were “deeply
worrying”. He added: “The NHS will be
under tremendous strain if we don’t
help keep people well ahead of winter.”
The Royal College of Physicians said
doctors feared that their patients’
health had worsened because of service
disruptions in the pandemic.
setting, and possibly the government’s half-price restaurant discount scheme, at Élan just off Oxford Circus in London
News
RAY TANG/ALAMY LIVE NEWSPreston told
it could be
next as virus
cases double
Charlotte Wace
Neil Johnston Midlands CorrespondentPreston could face increased lockdown
measures within days after coronavirus
cases doubled in a week, a public health
official has said.
It follows stringent rules introduced
in East Lancashire, Greater Manches-
ter and parts of West Yorkshire.
With 35 cases per 100,000 people, the
central Lancashire city has a coronavi-
rus rate that is higher than some of the
areas where people are banned from
socialising with others at home.
Preston recorded 49 new cases in the
week to July 31, compared with 22 the
previous week.
Sakthi Karunanithi, director of
public health for Lancashire, said that
he expected the government to impose
restrictions “in the next few days”, tell-
ing BBC Radio Lancashire: “That is my
personal and professional opinion
given the statistics, the direction of
travel and given the size of the issue.”
Further updates on possible new
measures are expected this morning
after a government review meeting.
“We will get to know after that meet-
ing if there are any restrictions that will
be brought in or [if] any support will be
given to us as well,” Dr Karunanithi
said.
Preston was not included in the offi-
cial measures enforced by central gov-
ernment, but residents have been ad-
vised to take extra precautions.
On Friday, guidance was issued by
the city council calling on locals to
avoid having visitors from another
household in homes and to wear face
coverings in all indoor public places.
A nightclub in Preston was criticised
for reopening on Saturday night with
footage showing people singing and
partying. Switch Nightclub had tickets
priced up to £180 and had claimed they
were operating only as a bar.
The council said it was aware of vid-
eos on social media and have pledged to
“investigate the situation”.
In Greater Manchester, police re-
ceived 750 calls from people reporting
lockdown gatherings last weekend.
At a briefing yesterday, the authority
said that it did not expect restaurants
and pubs to question customers over
who was in their group. But “targeted
enforcement” or “mystery shopping”
would be used to ensure that premises
were collecting contact details.
Andy Burnham, the mayor of Great-
er Manchester, warned that fears over
self-isolating could be affecting the
track and trace system. He said there
was “a low rate of names being passed
on. Clearly something isn’t working
here and we think it is linked to the fact
that people struggle to self-isolate.”
He said that people should be able to
isolate immediately “without fear of
not being paid or losing their job”.
In Nottinghamshire, workers at one
of Britain’s largest food production
companies have tested positive for Cov-
id-19 weeks after a manager threatened
to sack staff who stayed at home during
the pandemic. About eight people at
the Bakkavor dessert site in Newark are
thought to have the virus.
Staff had told local media that social
distancing was not being followed at
the plant, which employs 1,600 people,
and in some cases employees who had
returned from coronavirus hotspots
were not being told to isolate.
Yesterday the factory said that it was
“working closely with Public Health
England” over the outbreak.In the mood for love? Get a
room (but only in a hotel)
Charlotte Wace
Northern CorrespondentCouples who live apart appear to be
banned from having sex in each other’s
homes during local lockdowns but not
in hotels, according to new restrictions.
Regulations brought into law this
week say that “no person may
participate in a gathering in the pro-
tected area which consists of two or
more persons and takes place in a pri-
vate dwelling, including a houseboat”.
This includes gardens, yards, passages,
stairs, outhouses or any “other
appurtenance of the dwelling”.
They say that a gathering occurs
“when two or more people are present
together in the same place in order to
engage in any form of social interaction
or to undertake any other activity with
each other”.
Any two households that have linked
to form a “support bubble” are exempt
from the so-called ban. This includes
people who live alone and single
parents, which means that some peoplein long-term relationships can still le-
gally stay with each other overnight.
However, for anyone not in a support
bubble the new laws do not apply in
hotels, hostels, campsites, caravan
parks, members’ clubs, boarding houses
or bed and breakfast accommodation.
Although an effective sex ban existed
during the national lockdown under
measures that prohibited gatherings
between households, this had applied
across all forms of accommodation.
The legislation comes despite official
guidance issued last week that seemed
to place limitations on holidays for
people living in areas of local lockdown.
It said: “You can still go on holiday but
you should only do this with people you
live with (or have formed a support
bubble with).”
As this was not backed up in the legis-
lation, there appears to be nothing stop-
ping people from enjoying each other’s
company in a hotel room. Those who
flout the rules face £100 fines up to a
maximum of £3,200 for repeat offences.
Rooms for work, Business, page 33