‘Lives are at stake’

Police are stopping motorists, businesses and schools are closed and public places are closing down as part of an unprecedented clamp down on our freedoms to stem the flow of Coronavirus into the Welshpool area.

Just a week we were working with official sources to warn of a potential lockdown and the impending tourist invasion on Mother’s Day weekend, but were accused by a small minority of ‘scaremongering’.

But if it wasn’t clear then, it certainly is now as the Welshpool area joins the frontline in the fight against this international virus.

Following the Prime Minister’s game changing announcement last night, his party foot soldiers have reiterated his message with local MP Craig Williams, and AM Russell George saying “lives are at stake”.

“We urge the people of Montgomeryshire to follow the very clear Government advice,” the pair have said in a statement. “We are responsible for not just our own safety, but for everyone else’s safety as well.

“When we reduce our day-to-day contact with other people, we will reduce the spread of the infection.”

As a snapshot, the UK Government is:

·      Requiring people to stay at home, except for very limited purposes

·      Closing non-essential shops and community spaces

·      Stopping all gatherings of more than two people in public

“Every citizen must comply with these new measures. The relevant authorities, including the police, will be given the powers to enforce them – including through fines and dispersing gatherings,” they said.

“These measures are effective immediately. The Government will look again at these measures in three weeks, and relax them if the evidence shows this is possible.

“These measures are absolutely necessary because the more people that fall ill, then the harder it is for our NHS to cope, and therefore we must slow the spread of the disease so that fewer people are sick at any one time.

“To put it bluntly, if you go out unnecessarily, you risk lives, and the ability of NHS Wales to prevent deaths.

“The decision is in your hands, but as the Prime Minister said, our police forces have been empowered to disperse gatherings of more than two people; the police will issue fines to anyone who does not comply with these rules; and the police will close all shops that are not essential, as well as playgrounds and places of worship.

“Lives are at stake, and we urge you all to do the right thing and abide by them in order to control this pandemic.”

PICTURE (by Phil Blagg): The changing face of local business… Rikki Lloyd will continue to trade, but in a very different way.