The British government is mulling tougher restrictions in England to tackle a swiftly accelerating second wave of the novel coronavirus outbreak, possibly outlawing more inter-household socialising, a junior health minister said on Monday.

“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.”

“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 showing crowds of young revellers outside pubs were “worrying”.

Reuters