West Midlands council leaders are calling on supermarkets and businesses that remain open during this national lockdown to step-up their COVID-19 safety measures to help combat the surge of infections
With cases continuing to rise across the region and the UK entering a new lockdown, people are now required to stay at home except for a handful of permitted reasons – one of which is to shop for basic necessities.
Supermarkets and some other retailers will remain open and the leaders of Birmingham, Coventry, Sandwell, Solihull, Dudley, Walsall and Wolverhampton councils believe the retailers have a major role to play in keeping people safe over the coming weeks and months.
The seven leaders, who wrote to Business Secretary Alok Sharma MP in November expressing concerns at the easing of safety measures in supermarkets, have now called for urgent action to protect staff and shoppers.
Birmingham City Council leader Cllr Ian Ward said: “Supermarkets and their staff worked extremely hard during the first lockdown to introduce measures that kept shoppers and workers safe.
“Now we need a return to the measures and the vigilance we saw last year and that means hand washing and sanitising, enforcement on the rules around face coverings and better social distancing, including the reintroduction on one-way systems.
“These are very worrying times and we all have a role to play to keep people safe. Although people must once again stay at home as much as possible, many of us will still be visiting supermarkets, so it’s essential that stores are as safe as possible.”
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