Lockdown locks-down! Boris Johnson finds time to have a quick trim… before plunging Britain into second shutdown that will last until at least December 2
- England is set to go into a second coronavirus lockdown from Thursday morning
- Hairdressers and beauty salons are among the businesses being forced to close
- Boris Johnson was spotted sporting a neater haircut as he addressed House of Commons this afternoon
Boris Johnson appears to have fitted in a quick trip to the hairdressers before they are forced to close as part of the government’s latest lockdown restrictions.
Sporting a neater-than-usual blonde barnet as he arrived at the House of Commons, the Prime Minister insisted that Covid cases were surging so high that there was ‘no alternative’ to the month-long blanket restrictions across England.
From Thursday, households will be banned from mixing indoors during the period, and people will be told not to leave home and travel abroad unless for unavoidable reasons, such as work that cannot be performed remotely, or to take exercise.
Smartened up: The Prime Minister addresses the House of Commons after appearing to have had a quick trim of his blonde barnet
Scruffy: On Saturday, the Prime Minister appeared in a severely delayed press conference to tell people living in England they would go back into tighter restrictions from Thursday
Businesses including hairdressers and beauty salons will be shut again, as will massage parlours and tanning salons.
It comes as the Department of Health reported another 18,950 more positive cases of Covid-19 and 136 deaths, and the time for cases to double in the south east and Midlands exceeding the rate in northern areas.
‘Faced with these figures, there is no alternative but to take action at a national level,’ said Mr Johnson.
But some sharp-eyed viewers were quick to spot the Prime Minister had smartened up his long locks since announcing the latest set of restrictions for England on Saturday.
‘You can tell this is serious… Boris Johnson has had a haircut,’ quipped Natalie Merchant.
And Julian Shepherd noted that both Cabinet Minister Michael Gove and Mr Johnson had had ‘unusually short haircuts’, describing the PM’s normal look as an ‘exploded haystack’.
Hair salons across the country had made huge changes to their shops to reopen back in July for the first time since March.
Many advertised midnight openings with plans to work through into the morning after hundreds of clients called to book up appointment slots days in advance.
To help stop the spread of Covid, salons had set up plastic screens between hairdressing stations, laid down one-way systems and reduced the number of people seen at any one time.