Expert warns people ‘don’t go to the pub’ after lockdown

One of the UK’s top medical chief has warned against going to the pub after lockdown as it will reduce your risk to catching coronavirus.

England’s deputy chief medical officer, Dr Jenny Harries warned that people will have to carefully consider how you travel when the lockdown is to be slowly lifted.

She acknowledged people want to go back to the pub, and warned this will not be the best way to reduce catching coronavirus, as pubs have small spaces and could be rife with the virus.

Pubs have small environments and people can hang out for hours which makes it easier for people to catch the virus, including bar staff who typically work long hours.

Dr Harries said, “If you go as a family unit and sit in one place and you’ve got the same exposure there that you would in your house at home, that’s probably quite a safe environment.”

But the medical chief warned, “If you go with a whole load of friends that you haven’t seen from before the coronavirus lockdown, sit in a pub in a very small environment, lean well over each other on the table and stay there for some hours face-to-face, that’s really not a good thing to do.”

Dr Harries added, “‘Don’t go to the pub on the way’ is probably the one to reduce your risk, although I recognise that everybody is wanting to do that.”

A government advisor has suggested that Brits could be limited to two or three pints when pubs reopen from the coronavirus lockdown.

Businesses will need to enforce strict social distancing measures once the lockdown measures are lifted, and Eyal Winter is working with the government on plans for easing the measures.

Winter, an economist and a behavioural expert, at Lancaster University told the Guardian newspaper that ministers are concerned pubs will get packed once the public are allowed out after weeks of being at home.