Replicated from the Mirror, UK
Office staff will NOT have to wear masks at work
| Welcome to tonight’s briefing… |
| Office workers in England will not have to wear face coverings, Matt Hancock has said. Face coverings will be mandatory in shops and supermarkets from July 24 But the Health Secretary said there were no plans to extend the requirement to workspaces and schools. “It is something we’ve looked at and rejected,” he said. |
He added: “When you’re in close proximity with somebody that you have to work closely to, if you’re there for a long time with them, then a mask doesn’t offer that protection.
“The same logic applies for schools – we’re not recommending masks for schools because if you’re in a classroom with kids all day then a mask doesn’t give you protection.”
| In other developments today: • Boris Johnson has committed to holding an independent inquiry into the Government’s response to the coronavirus outbreak. • The Queen will attend her first face-to-face public engagement since the lockdown to knight Capt Tom Moore at Windsor Castle on Friday. • The charity Action on Smoking and Health says more than one million people have given up smoking since the start of the Covid outbreak. • Starbucks and McDonald’s are among the firms to cut prices after the VAT reduction started today. VAT on food and drink has been cut from 20% to 5%. • The infection rate in England fell dramatically before the easing of the lockdown in May, according to a study by Imperial College, London. It found the R rate was down to 0.57 – lower than the official estimate of between 0.7 and 1. • The luxury fashion firm Burberry is to axe 500 jobs from its UK and global workforce. • DisneyLand Paris reopened today with social distancing rules in place and visitors aged over 11 required to wear face coverings. • Spanish authorities have closed the Punta Ballena party strip in Magaluf after tourists flouted rules on social distancing and face coverings. |
People in Blackburn have been banned from visiting each other in groups of more than two and told they must not shake hands following a spike in new Covid-19 infections.
Health bosses warn that unless the number of new cases goes down, Blackburn with Darwen may have to follow Leicester back into lockdown.
The measures – which also include advice to wear face coverings in all enclosed public spaces – will be in place for the next month.
The authority’s director of public health, Dominic Harrison, said a lockdown similar to that in Leicester is “a real possibility” after the infection rate rose to 47 cases per 100,000 from 31.6 in just seven days.
The authority is third on the list of highest weekly rates, behind Leicester, which has a rate of 118.2 cases per 100,000 and is subject to a local lockdown, and nearby Pendle, with a rate of 76.6.
And here’s how NOT to mask
Discount fashion website Pretty Little Thing has been slammed for selling a “useless” bedazzled face mask
The online retailer was mocked for its Black Diamante Fishnet Mask with shoppers ridiculing the product on Twitter and many branding it “ridiculous”.
Images taken from the Pretty Little Thing Website show the £10 mask as worn by a model and it is made from a fishnet style material, with rhinestones dotted across the front.
The “statement mask” provides absolutely no coverage over the mouth or nose, leading many to criticise the design.
Among those to question, the product was Twitter user Imogen Jayde from Shrewsbury, Shropshire.
Emma Pharoah from Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, retweeted the image saying: “PLT are really f* up atm aren’t they?”
One user named Eden Loise fumed: “Companies who see masks as a trend rather than a necessity in helping prevent thousands of people dying. What is this @OfficialPLT, wise up.”
And another user from Glasgow named Rebekah dubbed it: “The most useless thing I’ve ever seen.”
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