epaselect epa08695287 A quiet Soho just before the 10pm closure deadline in Soho, London, Britain, 24 September 2020. The UK government has announced that pubs, bars and restaurants must close by 10pm starting Thursday 24 September. The new restrictions have been put in place to help curb the recent spike in cases of Coronavirus in the UK. EPA-EFE/ANDY RAIN "We don't want to bring on new restrictions but of course we keep a constant eye on what is going on with the COVID rate," Junior Health Minister Helen Whately told Sky News. "We were looking at what we might be able to do."
The Times newspaper said ministers were preparing to enforce a total social lockdown across much of northern England and potentially London. The paper said all pubs, restaurants and bars would be ordered to shut for two weeks.
Asked about The Times report, Whately said the country was at a really serious point and so COVID-19 had to be brought under control. She did not give a direct answer on the report that pubs would be closed.
"This is the moment when we have an opportunity - we have a choice for the country - to get this back under control," Whately said. "We have to break these chains of transmission."
She said pictures from the weekend, after pubs were ordered to close early which showed crowds of young revellers outside pubs, were "worrying". (Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge and Bill Schomberg; editing by Michael Holden)