Portrait of the week: new laws, illegal mingling and bungled tests

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At one minute past midnight on Monday, new laws came into force prohibiting households in England increasing their numbers to more than six either at home or in the open air, not passed by parliament but imposed by statutory instrument by the Home Secretary under the Public Health Act 1984. The laws had been given the name ‘Rule of Six’ by Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister. Mingling was singled out for censure. Wales and Scotland had their own variants, principally exempting children from the count. People in Birmingham, Sandwell and Solihull were banned from meeting anyone not part of their household; parents complained that this prevented grandparents looking after their children. At the beginning of the week, Sunday 6 September, total deaths within 28 days of testing positive for the coronavirus had stood at 41,623 — 74 more than a week earlier. Of the 8,996 deaths from any cause registered in the week ending 4 September, 83 mentioned Covid-19 on the death certificate — the lowest figure since 13 March. The Royal College of Psychiatrists estimated that 8.4 million people were drinking hazardous levels of alcohol, compared with 4.8 million in February.

The government wallowed in heavy weather of its own making after introducing the Internal Market Bill, which would ‘break international law in a very specific and limited way’, according to Brandon Lewis, the Northern Ireland Secretary. Its ostensible purpose was to prevent tariffs and customs restrictions being placed on trade between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom, in the event of no agreement having been made with the European Union. At second reading, it received a majority of 77, with two Tory MPs voting against it and 30 abstaining. Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, was absent from parliament, self-isolating at home.