COVID-19 Update 16th October 2020

You will have seen that Lancashire will move to Very High Alert Status from 00.01 on Saturday 17 October. The restrictions will apply in Burnley, Blackburn with Darwen, Blackpool, Chorley, Fylde, Hyndburn, Lancaster, Pendle, Preston, Ribble Valley, Rossendale, South Ribble, West Lancashire and Wyre.

This means that the base restrictions come into play in these areas:

• People must not socialise with anybody they do not live with, or have formed a support bubble with, in any indoor setting or in any private garden or at most outdoor hospitality venues and ticketed events
• People must not socialise in a group of more than six in an outdoor public space such as a park or beach, the countryside, a public garden or a sports venue
• All pubs and bars must close, unless they are serving substantial meals
• People should try to avoid travelling outside the very-high alert level or entering a very-high alert level area, other than for work, education or for caring responsibilities or to travel through as part of a longer journey
• Residents should avoid staying overnight in another part of the UK, and others should avoid staying overnight in the very high alert area

In addition to these base-level restrictions, there are also the following locally agreed restrictions that will come into force on Monday 19 October at 00.01:

• The adult gaming industry, casinos, bingo halls, bookmakers, betting shops, and soft play areas must close
• Car boot sales would not be permitted

(of note, the restrictions do not include the closure of gyms – which is different to Liverpool)

These restrictions will be reviewed after 14 days.

The Government has allocated £42m package to support businesses and services across the 15 councils in the region and hopefully the details of this should be available soon.