Coronavirus: British government unveils ‘unprecedented’ economic rescue plan

Johnson calls for all bars, cafes and gyms to shut down immediately

The front page of the Evening Standard newspaper, leading with the story that UK cinemas and pubs are likely to be ordered close later today, is pictured in London on March 20, 2020, during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday said he was confident the country can slow the spread of coronavirus in the next three months through tough measures to cut social contact. The government earlier this week called for more people to work from home, and avoid public transport, pubs, clubs and restaurants, to try to slow infection rates. / AFP / DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS
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Britain dramatically ramped up its coronavirus response on Friday by outlining an "unprecdented" economic rescue plan and ordering venues to close so that hospitals are not overwhelmed by patients.


The Chancellor Rishi Sunak on Friday outlined an economic rescue package he said was "unprecedented in this country" as the government imposed stricter measures to close cafes, bars, restaurants and other public entertainment venues.

In its daily coronavirus press conference in Downing Street, the government sought to re-assure the public that "they were not facing this [the coronavirus] alone", before announcing that would step in to help pay wages for the first time British history.

Under "the coronavirus job retention scheme" any British company will be able to apply for a grant from HMRC, the UK tax department, to cover the wages of people not working during the coronavirus outbreak, but who haven't been laid off. The scheme will cover 80 per cent of the salaries of the retained workers, up to £2,500 a month.

The finance minister said it means that British workers can hold onto their jobs even if their bosses cannot afford to pay them.

"I am placing no limit on the amount of funding available for the scheme. We will pay grants to support as many jobs as a necessary," he said.

"We said we would stand together with the British people and we meant it. We have never had a scheme in this country like this before and where we have had to rebuild our systems from scratch," he said, adding that HMRC was working "around the clock" to deliver the financial re-assurance to workers by the end of April.

The chancellor also said that he was deferring the next quarter of VAT payments for businesses, meaning that companies won't have to pay up until June. Mr Sunak said this will pour another £30 billion into the UK economy.



During the press conference, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: "We are telling cafes, bars and restaurants to close tonight as soon as they reasonably can and not to open tomorrow. Though to be clear, they can continue to provide takeout services. Some people may of course be tempted to go out tonight, and I say to those people, 'please don't."

"We're also telling nightclubs, theatres, cinemas, gyms and leisure centres to close on the same timescale," Mr Johnson said. "The sad thing is today, for now, at least physically, we need to keep people apart."

Another 39 people died in Britain on Friday after testing positive for the coronavirus, bringing the total number of confirmed deaths in the country to 167, the National Health Service said. There are 3,297 known cases of the infection in the country.

On Thursday, the Bank of England moved to set interest rates at a record low of 0.1 per cent, in a move to mitigate the economic shock that will be caused by the virus.

On Wednesday, Mr Sunak unveiled a £350 billion bailout to keep Britain's businesses and workers afloat through the coronavirus crisis, which some scientists believe could last more than a year.

Meanwhile, billionaire British airline bosses were facing outrage and demands to use their money to help their struggling workers work through the coronavirus outbreak.

Richard Branson, who owns Virgin Atlantic and Stelios Haji-Ioannou, who owns Easyjet, have demanded staff to take weeks of unpaid leave or asked for state aid to avoid making hundreds of people redundant.