COVID-19: 'Don't let a coffee cost a life,' warns new government advert
"COVID takes the train too" is another potential slogan set to be unveiled as ministers try to get people to stay at home.
Friday 15 January 2021 15:34, UK
Hard-hitting adverts warning against spreading coronavirus by getting a cup of coffee or travelling by public transport are to be unveiled in the next few days.
Among the slogans being considered for the government's advertisements are "Don't let a coffee cost a life" and "COVID takes the train too", the PA news agency said.
A national campaign featuring stark messaging is to be unveiled within days as ministers try to ensure people comply with tougher restrictions to cope with the surge in cases and the threat of new strains in the UK.
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Latest figures, however, suggest the adverts are aimed at the wrong targets.
In the seven days to 10 January, there were 18 outbreaks of COVID-19 from food outlets and restaurants reported to Public Health England (PHE) surveillance teams, up 11 from the previous week.
Care homes, by contrast, were behind 977 suspected outbreaks in the same period.
The most up-to-date PHE data shows 243 suspected outbreaks in workplaces in the same time frame, 78 in hospitals, and 31 in educational settings such as schools.
It comes as the UK banned travellers from the whole of South America as well as Portugal over fears of a new variant of the virus found in Brazil.
This new strain had been discovered in the UK, Professor Wendy Barclay, head of a new COVID-19 variant group, said earlier.
But she later retracted that statement, saying it had not, although "other variants that may have originated from Brazil have been previously found."
COVID patients are being transferred out of Brazil's north east due to a lack of oxygen tanks as the region's health system collapsed.