The following action will take effect in Bolton
immediately:
- all hospitality for food and drink will be
restricted to takeaway only
- late-night restriction of operating hours, meaning
venues will be required to close between 10pm and 5am
Current guidance on restricting people from socialising
outside their household will also be brought into law.
It follows proactive action taken over the weekend by
Bolton Council, in consultation with the government and
Public Health England (PHE), to implement
additional measures on household gatherings and use of
public transport.
The North West regulations currently prohibit
households from mixing indoors or in gardens. Guidance
is already in place on not mixing with those outside
your household in public outdoor places and today we
are announcing this guidance will be brought in as
regulations.
This means all socialising outside of your household
will be banned and will be enforced by law. These new
regulations will be laid at the earliest opportunity.
Face coverings must be worn on public transport and
failure to do so could result in a fine.
The number of positive cases in Bolton have risen to
120 cases per 100,000 – the highest in the country – a
change from 98.8 per 100,000 over the weekend. Data
shows the rise in cases in Bolton is partly due to
socialising by people in their 20s and 30s. Social
distancing remains our main line of defence against the
virus and it is crucial everyone follows the rules.
Speaking in the House of Commons, Health and Social
Care Secretary said:
Unfortunately, after improving for several weeks, we
have seen a very significant and concerning rise in
cases in Bolton.
Bolton is now up to 120 cases per 100,000, the
highest case rate in the country. Working with the
local council, we are taking further local action.
I want to say directly to everyone living in Bolton:
I know how anxious this can be and I know the impact
that these measures will have but we need to take
this crucial step to keep this virus at bay.
PHE, the
JBC and
NHS Test and Trace are constantly monitoring the levels
of infection and other data on prevalence of the virus
across the country. As has always been the case,
measures are kept under constant review to reduce the
spread of the virus and save lives.
