London will go into local coronavirus lockdown from Friday, with household mixing banned

Household mixing will be banned in London as of midnight on Friday after Boris Johnson’s UK government said that the English capital would be moved into the “high” COVID-19 tier amid rising new infections, the capital’s members of parliament have been told.

As of Saturday, Londoners will be prohibited from mixing with other households in homes and other indoor settings, including hospitality venues, after the UK government agreed with London mayor Sadiq Khan that the city required tougher restrictions to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

UK health minister Helen Whateley announced the news to London members of Parliament in a call on Thursday morning, with Prime Minister Johnson expected to confirm it in a statement later in the day.

People in the capital will be allowed to continue visiting pubs, bars, and restaurants, but only with people from the same household.

Khan has been pushing for London’s alert status to changed from “medium” to “high” and had a meeting with UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock and Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty on Wednesday, the Times of London reports.

London was put in the least serious category — “medium” — when Prime Minister Johnson unveiled the government’s new tiered system for enforcing local lockdowns earlier this week.

However, while the number of infections and hospitalizations in the capital are not as high as in the north of England, they have been growing exponentially with Khan this week warning that the virus was spreading “so quickly.”

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