There is a very brief period, 00:01 on 17th April to 00:001 on the 19th of April, when modified restrictions on leaving the home and gatherings are put in place before the end of Lockdown 3 at 00:01 on the 19th of April.
Restrictions on movement.
GC 75 deals with restrictions on movement, but only for a short period. It came into effect at 00:01 on the 17th of April, and will cease to be of effect at 00:01 on the 19th of April. It makes comparatively minor changes to the restrictions on movement regime.
Most wide rangingly, previous incarnations of the movement GC allowed a person to leave their home for a range of reasons, but only when “it is not reasonably practicable to achieve the purpose from the person’s home”. This pervasive condition has now been removed – so long as you are leaving home for a recognised reason, it does not matter if it could have been achieved while staying home.
There is a change to the gathering justification for leaving home. This was most recently gathering in an outdoor place for exercise, recreation or leisure. That has been amended to gathering as permitted by the gathering GC, “provided that overnight staying (including but not limited to camping or overnight staying) is permitted” (para.5(1)(e)). Overnight staying is permitted under the new gathering GC; as we will see gathering for any purpose is also permitted.
Gatherings.
GC 78 deals with events or gatherings, again for only a short period. It came into effect at 00:01 on the 17th of April, and will cease to be of effect on the 19th of April.
The former ground allowing gathering with one’s own household for exercise has been deleted.
The support bubble ground has been amended slightly. Formerly, it was limited to two paired households, and once a pair had been created, the ability to form a support bubble disappeared. This provision has now been deleted – for this short period a succession of support bubbles may be formed, made use of, and then moved on from so long as each one is valid in itself.
The ground allowing up to 10 persons to gather outdoors for exercise, recreation or leisure has been substantially amended. It has been extended to indoor places, and there is no longer a requirement to keep socially distant from other households (or the exhortation to wear masks) (para.13). Significantly, it no longer has to be for exercise, leisure, or recreation: “For the avoidance of doubt, vehicle sharing, provision of care to another person, overnight staying and all other purposes for such gathering shall be permitted”. The important limit here is the number of persons who may gather – gatherings of more than 10 persons remain prohibited. Inadvertent gatherings of more than ten to deal with an emergency are permitted (para.14).
Tradespersons, delivery persons, and property professionals may still enter dwellings, but there is a new restriction – the total number of persons in the dwelling must not, except in the case of emergency, exceed 10 (para.23). I had earlier noted that dwelling was not defined for this ground – the definition applicable elsewhere in the GC has been extended to it (para.25).
From the 19th of April.
GC 78 will enjoy only a short life, and its successor, GC 79, has already been created. GC 79 comes into effect as GC 78 expires, and will remain in force until 00:01 on 25 June 2021. The only ongoing restriction on gatherings is gathering “in or on a dwelling (including the curtilage or garden of such dwelling) where a person is in self-isolation” (para.6). Even this restriction has a number of exceptions: permission granted by other PHRs (para.7); self-contained apartments (para.9); to provide urgent emergency care for a child or vulnerable adult in the dwelling (para.10 – the bar is set high “required to enter the dwelling for the purposes of preserving life or property”) , . The reference to entering the dwelling to collect items not being permitted except for general refuse, which confused me in its earlier version, has been restored (para.8). I still think explicit discussion of deliveries to a self-isolating home would be useful.
The rest of the ending of lockdown is effected simply by letting a GC with an expiry date expire on that date. Closure of premises expires at 00:01 on 19th April 2021, and the specific GCs on education and childcare had already been allowed to expire, as they were folded into this last closure of premises GC.
The external facing part of the response to the pandemic – border controls and associated self-isolation – remain in place.
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