No screaming please, we’re British: bans on raised voices as restrictions ease on July 4

No dancing, no yelling, no singing. And for weddings, while 30 can attend nuptials, most will then have to head home. Welcome to the new UK after July 4.

A woman walks past a wedding dress shop in London. Picture: AP

No screaming, we’re British. Nor dancing, nor yelling, nor singing. And for weddings, 30 can attend the nuptials, but most have to then head home, for there cannot be a reception of more than six people in total.

These are some of the new rules the British government has introduced as it seeks to ease coronavirus lockdown restrictions on July 4.

Previously the UK government had in place a “sex ban” — preventing any visitors to a household — until mid June. Now, they have introduced some other hard-to-enforce rules.

While theme parks will be allowed to open with social distancing, rollercoaster fans won’t be allowed to scream. Under the new government guidance people are prohibited from raising their voices and shouting, meaning workplaces have to reduce or eliminate background music.

The theme park Thorpe Park in Surrey, south west London, says visitors will have to pre book and “guests will be required to wear a face mask in order to go on a number of rides and roller-coasters”, including The Saw, which features a 100ft free fall drop at 55 miles per hour turning upside down three times with 4.7g-force.

Great news! We WILL be reopening the Resort on 4th July! Please visit our website https://t.co/Kmj8rjwZld for further information and updates. pic.twitter.com/KJJXsUJDPI

— THORPE PARK Resort (@THORPEPARK) June 23, 2020

Hairdressers have finally been given the okay to reopen on July 4, but staff have to wear full face visors and remove magazines from the premises and have appointments “as short as possible”.

Churches can also hold services, but singing hymns is banned.

Standing in a lift means facing the walls, and on-site canteens are banned, with workplaces to instead provide workers with packed lunches.

Prospective brides and grooms are in a quandary whether to go ahead with weddings. The rules allow up to 30 people standing 2m apart to attend the formal part of proceedings, but any indoors reception can only be attended by two family groups. For those organising the summer wedding and outdoor festivities, only six people — presumably four guests plus the happy couple — are allowed to attend.

Elsewhere bars, pubs, clubs and restaurants will be allowed to open their doors if they record patrons’ details and hold them for 21 days so that people can be easily traced to quarantine for 14 days if there is a breakout of the virus in the vicinity.

People will be discouraged from talking to the barman and may be asked to order from an app.

A shopper wearing a protective face mask walks past government advice being displayed on an advertisement board at Westfield Shopping Centre in Stratford, east London. Picture: AFP

Shoppers are also banned from shopping with friends.

But for the first time in 15 weeks, parents can now register the birth of a child.

The government’s rules apply to England, but Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, slower to re-open, are set to adopt similar measures.

The easings and new rules come as the UK has continued a downward trend in coronavirus cases, with estimates that the virus is in the community at the rate of one per two thousand people. The overall UK death toll of those testing positive to coronavirus has reached 43,081 after 154 people died on Tuesday, the Department of Health announced.

The government is reopening most of the country after suffering the worst economic plunge in 300 years, a 20.4 per cent drop in GDP for April, with the May figures expected to be worse. The British public has to learn to live with the virus by taking serious precautions, say the government’s medical and scientific advisers, who have warned various measures are likely to still be in place throughout 2021.