No. 10 to outlaw gatherings of more than six people

The government is to significantly reduce the threshold for lawful gatherings of people in homes from the current 30, perhaps to as low as six, I understand. This is a first response to the significant spike to circa 3,000 a day in Covid-19 infections we’ve seen. At the moment, attending a gathering of more than 30 people is punishable with a £100 fine and organising such an event risks a £10,000 fine. Under the reduced threshold, due to be announced perhaps today, the police would be empowered to break up and levy fines on much smaller groups.

The new threshold has not yet been decided, however. One source says that this is a response to the ‘early warning system’ from the Joint Biosecurity Centre, which is charged with advising the government on whether the rate of injection is rising in a dangerous way.

A scientist who advises the government told me he was very concerned that the rise in infections among younger people will rapidly spread to older, more vulnerable individuals, and we’ll see a disturbing rise in hospitalisations.