Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that United Kingdom residents will soon have to wear face coverings if they want to go shopping.
The Monday announcement comes as the country continues to face the worst outbreak of COVID-19 in Europe. Close to 300,000 residents have become infected, and at least 44,900 people have died there since the pandemic began.
The conservative prime minister’s office said Monday that “growing evidence that wearing a face covering in an enclosed space helps protect individuals and those around them from coronavirus,” according to the Associated Press.
The mandate will go into effect on July 24, and those who violate it can be fined by police up to 100 pounds, or about $125. Prior to the decision, masks were only required on public transportation in the U.K., despite requirements to wear face coverings in confined spaces in other countries such as Germany, Spain, and Italy.
Requiring masks has been a political flashpoint in British politics. Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove said Sunday that he didn’t support a government mandate and that people’s “common sense” should be trusted. Meanwhile, Labor Party health spokesman Jonathan Ashworth said the government “has been slow and muddled again over face coverings” and wondered why the new order will take 11 days to go into effect.
Johnson is perhaps the most well-known world leader to contract the coronavirus. He was released from a hospital in London on Easter Sunday after recovering from COVID-19 complications. The prime minister was hospitalized on April 5 after being diagnosed with the flu-like illness and was later moved to the ICU for three days as his condition worsened.
Worldwide, the virus has infected some 13 million people and has killed more than a half-million since it first emerged in central China late last year.
