UK prime minister Boris Johnson and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak have urged Britons to shop again LONDON: More than half of British people said they did not plan on visiting non-essential shops after they reopened on June 15 due to fears of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), according to Daily Mail research. A poll for the UK newspaper found that 80 percent of people polled said they had not visited a non-essential shop since they were allowed to reopen earlier this week. UK prime minister Boris Johnson and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak have urged Britons to shop again to get the economy going after months of stagnation due to COVID-19 restrictions. The survey of 2,000 people, carried out by Redfield & Wilton Strategies on Thursday, found there was strong support for the UK’s two-meter social distancing rule to stay in place as the government considers reducing it to 1.5 meters — something welcomed by the country’s hospitality industry to save jobs and businesses. With bars, restaurants and pubs still closed across the UK, 57 percent of respondents said two-meter distancing rules should remain in place if food and beverage outlets are to reopen on July 4. Only 29 percent said they would want the rules to be eased. Johnson has suggested creating “air bridges” with low-infection countries to allow travel between them and the UK, but nearly 60 percent of British people asked said they had no plan to travel abroad for a holiday this year due to fear of contracting COVID-19 A quarter feared catching the virus on planes, a fifth did not want to have to quarantine for 14 days on returning to the UK and 14 percent said they were concerned about contracting it in the destination country. Not all those polled were avoiding foreign holidays, with 14 percent saying they were planning on traveling abroad. Of that 14 percent, Spain was the most popular destination (31 per cent) followed by Ireland (19 per cent) and Greece (17 per cent). The results of the poll have been released as Johnson’s government lowered the UK’s COVID-19 threat level from 4 to 3, leading experts to believe the two-meter rule will be scrapped. The Joint Biosecurity Center concluded this week that COVID-19 transmission is no longer “high or rising exponentially.” At the same time, figures on Friday showed UK debt is now bigger than the whole economy for the first time in 57 years.