Beautiful Virgin Islands

Saturday, Aug 22, 2026

UK coronavirus lockdown: what you can and cannot do

UK coronavirus lockdown: what you can and cannot do

Everything we know about the restrictions so far

Britain is now in lockdown, and all non-essential businesses must close.

But many questions remain after Monday night’s historic broadcast by the prime minister with many people unsure what they can and cannot do, or which businesses are essential and non-essential.

Interviews with cabinet members over the past 12 hours have shed some more light on the lists of things we can and cannot do.

How long does lockdown last?


At least three weeks.
What remains open?
Parks.
Supermarkets.
Food shops.
Health shops.
Pharmacies, including non-dispensing chemists.
Petrol stations.
Bicycle shops.
Home and hardware stores.
Laundrettes and dry cleaners.
Car rentals.
Pet shops.
Corner shops.
Newsagents.
Post offices.
Banks.
Ordered to close
Restaurants and cafes (exceptions: they can offer food delivery and takeaways).
Workplace canteens (exceptions: canteens in hospitals, care homes, schools, prisons and military canteens, services providing food or drink to the homeless).
Pubs.
Bars and nightclubs, including bars in hotels and members’ clubs.
Hair, beauty and nail salons.
Piercing and tattoo parlours.
Massage parlours.
Auction houses.
Car showrooms.
Caravan parks/sites for commercial use (exceptions: parks where people live permanently, or those used by people as interim abodes where their primary residence is not available).
Libraries.
Playgrounds.
Outdoor gyms.
All shops selling non-essential goods, including clothing and electronic stores.
Community centres, youth centres (exceptions: halls may remain open to host essential voluntary or public services such as food banks and facilities for homeless people).
Churches, mosques and places of worship (exceptions: they can remain open for “solitary prayer”, for funerals with social distancing – the mourners two metres apart – and for live-streaming).
Cinemas (exceptions: live-streaming of a performance if the group of workers exercise social distancing).
Museums and galleries.
Bingo halls.
Casinos and betting shops.
Spas.
Skating rinks.
Gyms.
Swimming pools.
Playgrounds.
Enclosed spaces in parks, including tennis courts and pitches for football, bowling etc, and outdoor gyms (equipment could become contaminated by human touch).
Prisons in England and Wales are closed to visitors.
Services, free movement and work that can continue (according to written government guidance and interviews in past 12 hours)
Advertisement


You should not:

Visit friends in their home.
Meet family members who do not live in your home.
Leaving home
Going out for these reasons is allowed, but limited:

Shopping for basic necessities: “as infrequently as possible”.
Taking one form of exercise a day, for example, a run, walk, or cycle: alone or with members of your household.

Dog walking is permitted as part of the exercise people can take per day. Households with two or more members can take it in turns to walk their dog so the dog gets more than one walk a day.
To look after any medical need, to provide care, or to help a vulnerable person.
To donate blood.
Children aged under 18 with separated parents can visit both homes.
To travel to and from work, “but only where this is absolutely necessary and cannot be done from home”.
For essential work (listed here), including work on construction sites, although there have been conflicting instructions. The housing secretary, Robert Jenrick, said: “If you are working on site, you can continue to do so. But follow Public Health England guidance on social distancing.”


However, the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, has said building workers should not be going to work today unless they are working for safety reasons.


Emergency callouts, but social distancing of two metres must be observed. The minister for the Cabinet Office, Michael Gove, gave the example on BBC Radio 4 of a plumber called out to fix an elderly person’s boiler.
Online shopping.
Social events that are banned
Weddings.
Baptisms and other events, including sporting events.
Visiting family members you do not live with.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Petrol Bombs Set Luxury Cars Alight Outside Birmingham Wedding as Police Hunt Three Men
Bitcoin Surges Toward $80,000 as Short Squeeze and ETF Inflows Ignite Crypto Rally
Twenty-Nine US States Take Meta to Trial Over Alleged Child Addiction on Instagram and Facebook
Former Scottish National Party Executive Peter Murrell Jailed for Five Years Over £400,000 Embezzlement
Moderna and Merck's Personalized Cancer Vaccine Succeeds in Historic Late-Stage Melanoma Trial
Prince Harry and Meghan to Move Back to Britain With Their Children
England and Wales Have Fewer Than 1,800 Prison Places Left for Men
Suspected People Smuggler Arrested After Investigation Identified Him
Children's Doctors Warn That Vaping Can Lead Young People to Smoking
Hundreds of Thousands of Students Receive GCSE and Vocational Results Across England, Wales and Northern Ireland
Here Is What Can Never Happen in Your Country: Taiwan Is Giving Money to All Its People Because It Collected Too Much Tax
UK Inflation Rises to 2.9% as Energy Bills Jump
UK Issues New Conduct Guide for Asylum Seekers on Consent and Respect
A Sleepless Night on Wall Street: Nasdaq to Begin Nearly Round-the-Clock Trading
"The First in the World": 69-Year-Old Protested Artificial Intelligence—and Went to Jail
Ukraine's Ousted Defence Minister Calls for Wartime Presidential Election
China’s Lifelike AI Humans Move From Livestreams Into Real-World Service Roles
Sarah Ferguson Reportedly Retreats to Late Ex-Boyfriend's Swiss Chalet
Cristiano Ronaldo and Georgina Rodríguez Sign Prenup Protecting Their Separate Fortunes
Thieves Steal Antonello da Messina Renaissance Masterpieces From Sicilian Museum
Better.com Founder Who Fired 900 Employees on Zoom Is Ousted as CEO
Italian Speed Camera Issues Nearly 32,000 Fines in 10 Weeks, Worth More Than €3 Million
AI Manager at San Francisco Store Recommends Firing Human Employee
Google Launches Pixel 11 With Gemini AI at the Center of Its Hardware Strategy
Reform UK Unveils Plan to Cut Welfare Spending by More Than £50 Billion a Year
Prime Minister Andy Burnham Praised Extinction Rebellion for Doing a 'Great Service'
UK Wildfire Phone Alert Triggers Backlash as Users Switch Off Emergency Warnings
Heathrow Roads Reopen After Burst Water Main Floods Access to Terminals 2 and 3
Former NBA Players Enes Kanter Freedom and Royce White Say They Will Enter 2027 WNBA Draft
Former Cambridge Professor Jason Arday Found Dead Days After Resigning Amid Plagiarism Row
US Appeals Court Rules AI Agent's Website Actions Are Legally Attributed to the User
France's Constitutional Council Blocks Social Media Ban for Children Under 15
Liechtenstein Changes Royal Succession Rules to Allow Women to Inherit the Throne
Women Allege Rape and Sexual Abuse at British Army College for Teenage Recruits
Minnesota: Two independent investigators posed as Muslims (one wearing a burqa) and showed how they could vote in elections without identification.
China’s Kimi Launches AI-Focused Credit Card With Agricultural Bank of China and American Express
Former Labour Adviser Arrested on Suspicion of Spying for China Held Privileged Access as Top Party Donor
Turkish Parliament Passes Landmark Bill Granting Conditional Amnesty to Disarmed PKK Members
Donald Trump Warns FIFA Against Ousting Gianni Infantino Amid Revolt by Global Football Leaders
Jeff Bezos Joins Investor Group Closing In on $6 Billion Liverpool FC Stake
UK Councils to Receive Sweeping Planning Powers to Ban New Vape and Betting Shops
Russia’s A7 Builds a State-Linked Payments Network Beyond Western Sanctions
Hyper-Realistic Reborn Dolls Draw Collectors Seeking Comfort and Craft
Gen Z Cuts Back on Dating as a Night Out Nears $200
Patients Turn to Artificial Intelligence for Therapy as Psychiatrists Warn of Privacy and Clinical Risks
Couples Embrace ‘Sleep Divorce’ to Protect Rest and Reduce Tension
Meta Ordered to Pay $567 Million and Change Facebook and Instagram Safeguards for Children
Up to only 10 Months in Prison for Swedish Officer’s Murderer Sparks Anger
Success: Nvidia Turned Gaming Chips Into the Engine of the AI Boom
Jorge Messi, Lionel Messi’s Father and Longtime Agent, Dies at 68
×