Gyms should be able to reopen 'in a couple of weeks', PM says
3 July 2020, 12:07
Boris Johnson said gyms would be able to reopen in a "couple of weeks", and vowed to try to get theatres going "as fast as we possibly can".
Speaking to LBC ahead of a further easing of lockdown restrictions on Saturday, July 4 the Prime Minister urged Brits to be. "sensible," over the weekend.
The country has been in lockdown for more than 100 days, with many businesses effectively forced to close due to the coronavirus.
Thousands of pubs are expected to reopen their doors across England, as business owners hope to bounce back after the "most challenging time ever" for the sector but gyms have not been given a firm date yet when they can reopen.
However, the Government has announced outdoor gyms would be open for exercise on 4 July.
On Friday the Prime Minister told LBC: "The best way forward for the country is to get the economy moving again ... We want to get every part of our industry, including theatres, that are so vital."
On gyms, he added: "We are going to reopen gyms as soon as we can do it in a Covid-secure way and I think that the date for reopening gyms at the moment, if we can do it, is in just a couple of weeks' time."
Boris Johnson: Gyms should be able to reopen in a ‘couple of weeks’
Previously Nevertheless, the culture secretary Oliver Dowden indicated indoor gyms and leisure centres could reopen in the middle of July – four months after closing their doors due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Olympic medallist Adam Peaty, speaking on Twitter, urged the prime minister to explain why pools are to be among the last things to reopen.
Peaty wrote: "Sport is so important to peoples wellbeing and most importantly mental health! If pubs open soon then so should everywhere else?"
He added: "It literally is a pool of disinfectant."
