It’s Thursday! All the retail workers across England will have to mandatorily wear masks from today.
While announcing the same, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that in case of any rule violation, the retailers may face a penalty of £10,000.
The move was not surprising considering the fast pace at which cases have been rising again all across the UK.
Reportedly, on Sunday (20 September), there were 3,899 coronavirus positive cases in the UK which took the overall cases to 394,257 and it’s been just rising this week too.
The Prime Minister said that the decision to force all retail staff to wear masks is just to ensure that all retail stores continue to function but in a COVID-secure way.
He added that Government’s COVID-secure guidelines will become legal obligations not only for the retail sector, but also for other sectors including tourism and leisure.
Police presence will also, as per reports, increase to ensure the retailers do not breach any of the Government-issued guidelines.
The Government has also announced that starting today (24 September), individual fines for not wearing masks inside stores or while travelling in public transport will be doubled from £100 to £200 – for offence committed first time.
The retail industry in the UK, especially the fashion retail, is yet to recover from the first lockdown and if there’s a second lockdown it could end up causing irreversible damage to the industry.
In recent months, several fashion retailers like River Island, Baird Group, M&Co, Go Outdoors and many others have gone into administration.
Also Read: Like Baird Group, River Island too considers CVA or administration
Also Read: JD-owned Go Outdoors to go into administration!
One can only hope people follow all Government guidelines strictly and that the Government is not forced to impose another lockdown in the country.
