Shops set to have limits on customers, cafes closed and NO group trips under new Gov rules for lifting lockdown

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As part of advice to firms to try and kickstart the economy, Brits are to be asked to go shopping alone for the forseeable future, with limits on the number of people in stores.

Shopping trips with pals will be off the table for months as people will be asked to go alone

According to BuzzFeed News, which has seen a copy of the draft guidance, the advice for reopening shops will be similar to the supermarket rules.

Tape setting out two metre distances will have to be put on shop floors, and Brits will need to queue outside first.

Shopping centres will be responsible for letting a certain number of people inside, and they will have to stay a safe distance from others at all time.

Many shops have already gone cashless to stop the spread of the virus through notes and coins, and it’s likely that will continue.

Returned items may have to be kept separate to those which are on display in case they are carrying the disease, too.

Some of the draft guidance also included ideas for the work place – such as shutting down canteens and masks worn in offices.

Brits are facing massive changes when they go back to work as employers are urged to minimise the risk of a second peak.

According to the BBC, restrictions being eased will see companies told to minimise the amount of staff using equipment, stagger shift times and maximise home-working.

The draft strategy also calls for physical screens and the use of protective equipment when staff cannot work two metres from each other.

Staff will also be told to avoid sharing pens and avoid face-to-face meetings.

Companies will be expected to put screens between people and provide packaged meals to avoid opening staff canteens.

Hotels and Restaurants will be asked to keep bar areas closed, and continue to only do takeaways, and also ask customers to wait in their cars.

In factories, office staff should stay home, with machines, boxes and tools frequently cleaned and disinfected.

Brits may be asked to wear face masks while doing their shopping or on public transport

Speaking this morning, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace insisted there were many ways Brits could reduce the risk while back in work.

He told Sky News: “You can look at shielding, you can look at how long you stay near people. The two-metre rule reduces the possibility of infection by a certain amount of time.

“If you halve that it still keeps people away from being infected but for a lesser time. The probability of being infected is much less.

“I think there are options about how we can do it. You can wear PPE, that could be a possibility if you have to be in close proximity or indeed you could find other ways of doing it.”

He also pointed towards workers working behind “shields” like they do in supermarkets at the moment.

Members of staff at the Vauxhall car factory demonstrating distancing measures
A Vauxhall car factory’s social distancing measures