Research, first reported by
The
Sun, shows areas with the high take up of the scheme also had low virus levels between August and October.
Places including Westminster, Scarborough and North Devon saw huge uptake in use of EOHO, which offered eat-in customers at participating hospitality venues a 50% discount up to £10 per person on all food and non-alcoholic drinks between Mondays and Wednesdays throughout August last year, but very low subsequent Covid cases.
Meanwhile areas such as Knowsley, Rochdale and Merthyr Tydfil had far higher rates of infection, but lower levels of use of the scheme.
The Treasury said: “These figures confirm that take-up of Eat Out to Help Out does not correlate with incidence of Covid regionally – and indeed where it does the relationship is negative.”
Friday Five: the week s top news This week s main hospitality news stories include the launch of the Michelin Guide Great Britain & Ireland 2021; speculation on when lockdown will end; and Mercato Metropolitano s global expansion plans.
- London restaurants
Core by Clare Smyth and Hélène Darroze at The Connaught have both been awarded three stars in the Michelin Guide Great Britain & Ireland 2021. This week s virtual event to commemorate the launch of the latest edition of the red book saw a total of 22 restaurants receive new star ratings, with three new two-star restaurants announced and 17 new one-star restaurants recognised. Chef Andrew Wong s flagship restaurant A Wong in Victoria became the first Chinese restaurant in the UK to achieve a two-star rating; while Tom Brown s Hackney hotspot Cornerstone was among the list of restaurants receiving their first star. A further
Hospitality certainly isn’t a huge risk when it comes to the transmission of Coronavirus infection, public health officials have told Parliament.
Despite hospitality having consistently faced the toughest operating restrictions, Greg Fell, director of Public Health in Sheffield, and Dr Richard Harling, his counterpart in Staffordshire, said the bulk of transmission has always been in people’s homes.
Giving evidence before the Science and Technology Committee to discuss the NHS Test and Trace system, Harding said: “Back in the summer and autumn, once you put transmission between household members aside, the next most important one was transmission between different households.