Outdoor markets start to reopen in England as coronavirus lockdown eases

1/18
Imogen Braddick23 June 2020

Outdoor markets have started to reopen across England as part of measures to ease the coronavirus lockdown.

As of Monday, car showrooms and outdoor markets in England are allowed to reopen, while non-essential shops can start to trade again from June 15.

As with garden centres, the Government says the risk of transmission of coronavirus "is lower in these outdoor and more open spaces".

Camden Market reopened on Monday, with most stallholders and visitors wearing masks. Signs urged customers to maintain social distance and hand sanitiser was placed outside some shops and stalls.

Groups of up to six people are also allowed to meet outside at a distance in England from Monday.

Socially-distanced outdoor meetings of the same size could already take place in Northern Ireland, while in Scotland individuals can meet those from one other household in groups of up to eight.

Wales has not set a size restriction, but groups meeting outside must only be comprised of individuals from two different households.

It comes Business Secretary insisted the lockdown is being eased in a “very cautious” way as children in England also began returning to school, despite public health officials warning against the relaxation.

UK Schools begin to reopen during Coronavirus lockdown ease

1/21

Alok Sharma said the Government had not undertaken a “dash” to restart the economy. He said: “This is not a dash. These are very cautious steps that we are taking. They are phased.”

But the Association of Directors of Public Health (ADPH) warned that experts were “increasingly concerned” that ministers are making the wrong judgment by easing restrictions too quickly.

ADPH president Dr Jeanelle de Gruchy said public health directors were concerned that the public was “not keeping to social distancing as it was”, with pictures emerging of crowded beaches and beauty spots over the weekend.

With UK deaths linked to Covid-19 rising, she said the NHS test and trace programme “is currently far from being the robust operation that is now urgently required as a safeguard to easing restrictions”.

Dr de Gruchy said: “Directors of public health are increasingly concerned that the Government is misjudging this balancing act and lifting too many restrictions, too quickly.”

Some experts on the scientific advisory group for emergencies (Sage), which is informing the Government’s coronavirus response, have also warned that ministers are taking risks.

But deputy chief medical officer for England Dr Jenny Harries said the relaxation was safe if the public is “sensible” and does not “overdo it”.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in