UK Wales Implements 2-Week Circuit Breaker to Defend Against COVID-19

Non-Essential Businesses and Schools Must Close
Indoor and Outdoor Meetings Between Households Also Prohibited

[Asia Economy New York=Correspondent Baek Jong-min] The Wales region of the United Kingdom has decided on a full lockdown to prevent the resurgence of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19).

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

On the 19th (local time), according to British media, Mark Drakeford, the head of the Welsh Government, announced a total lockdown across Wales for 17 days at a press conference.

This measure will be applied from 6 p.m. on the 23rd until the 9th of next month. All non-essential businesses, including pubs and restaurants, must close, and employees except essential workers must work from home. Meetings between households are prohibited both indoors and outdoors.

Elementary schools will enter a two-week mid-term break, and even if secondary schools reopen, only 7th and 8th graders will attend in person. University students will have a mix of in-person and online classes but must continue to stay in school dormitories and similar accommodations.

Places of worship such as churches may only open for weddings and funerals.

Previously, Scotland in the UK introduced strict COVID-19 restrictions first on the 7th, and Northern Ireland entered a four-week 'circuit breaker' from the 16th, but England is applying a three-tier COVID-19 response system with different restrictions depending on regional infection rates.

According to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, over 16,000 new COVID-19 cases were reported in the UK on the 18th alone.