UK mulls tighter lockdowns on northern England - GulfToday

UK mulls tighter lockdowns on northern England

UK-virus-Oct15-main1-750

A pedestrian walks past a sign displaying a message to wear a face covering in central London on Wednesday. AFP

Tighter COVID-19 lockdowns could be imposed on more parts of northern England by the British government on Thursday and Health Secretary Matt Hancock will address parliament, a minister said.


READ MORE

Global coronavirus cases cross 38 million

Trump's son Barron tested positive for COVID-19, says Melania Trump

Dubai fines 2 businesses warns 8 for violating virus guidelines


Asked on Sky if Manchester and parts of Lancashire would be placed into tier three, the highest level of local lockdown, junior business minister Nadhim Zahawi said:

"Well, as I say, I'm not going to speculate. Matt Hancock is going to make a statement to parliament as to where we are at but you can clearly see the numbers."

UK-virus-Oct15-main2-750
Pedestrians walk past a NHS sign displaying guidelines during the COVID-19 pandemic in London. AFP

On the other side, British home furnishing retailer Dunelm posted a 37 per cent jump in first-quarter sales on Thursday as it benefited from higher online demand for its homewares, as well as in-store recovery following the initial round of lockdowns.

Shares in the company were seen up 3 per cent to 5 per cent ahead of market open, according to premarket indicators.

The company, which was founded in 1979 as a market stall business, said it expected gross margin to be slightly positive for the year, barring any impacts from coronavirus-related disruption or restrictions.

Reuters

Related articles