(5 Nov 2020) UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has confirmed that the lockdown in England, which came into force on Thursday will not last more than four weeks.
Speaking to reporters from 10 Downing Street on Thursday, Johnson said that when lockdown ends on 2 December, England will go back to the tier system.
All non-essential venues - which in England includes pubs, restaurants, hairdressers, golf courses, gyms, swimming pools, entertainment places and stores selling items like books, clothing and sneakers - closed on Thursday.
Unlike the UK's spring lockdown, schools and universities in England are remaining open this time, as are construction sites and factories.
The prime minister said non-essential venues will reopen before Christmas to give business a chance to make up some of their losses during their busiest trading period.
"I've no doubt that people will be able to have as normal a Christmas as possible and that will be able to get things open before Christmas as well," he said.
At the news conference alongside the prime minister was Sir Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England, who said there were 11-thousand COVID-19 patients in hospitals across England as of the beginning of November.
"That's the equivalent of 22 of our hospitals across England full of coronavirus patients," he added.
In recent days, many European nations - including Belgium, Russia, France, Italy, Poland, Slovenia and the U.K. - have reported their highest daily virus death tolls in months, and sometimes ever.
Overall, the UK has Europe's highest official virus-related death toll: 47,742.

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