Boris Johnson: Government looking into stricter face covering rules for shops and confined spaces

Boris Johnson has said the Government is looking at introducing stricter rules on wearing face coverings in shops and other confined spaces.

Fresh data from the Office for National Statistics indicated that 52 per cent of adults in Britain had worn a face covering when leaving their home in the final week of June, up from 43 per cent on the week before.

Regardless of whether they had worn a face covering previously, 58 per cent of the 1,788 adults quizzed between July 2-5 said they were very or fairly likely to wear one in the next seven days.

“As we get the numbers down in the way that we have and we really stamp out outbreaks in the way that we are, I do think we need to be stricter in insisting people wear face coverings in confined spaces where they are meeting people they don’t normally meet,” he said in an online question and answer session with the public.

“We are looking at ways of making sure that people really do have face coverings in shops, for instance, where there is a risk of transmission.”

There have been no public sightings of Prime Minister Boris Johnson wearing a face covering while Chancellor Rishi Sunak, following his summer economic statement, was pictured serving food to customers at a Wagamama restaurant in central London without a non-surgical mask.

Government recommendations as part of the “one metre-plus” guidance are that measures such as wearing a face covering should be taken if people indoors cannot keep two metres away from each other.

Meanwhile, London mayor Sadiq Khan has repeated his call for face coverings to be made compulsory in public, telling the PM in a letter that he was “disappointed and frustrated” that the Government had not demanded masks be worn in “busy and enclosed public places”.

The Labour politician added: “Face coverings are not only vital for public health.

“They could play an increasing role in supporting public confidence and our economic recovery.”