Christ Church, West Wimbledon Merton Council has written to faith and belief leaders in the borough to request places of worship to temporarily close. Cabinet members, Councillor Rebecca Lanning and Councillor Marsie Skeete sent the letter following the government’s decision to reintroduce a national lockdown due to the increase in Covid-19 cases. They also responded after Mayor Sadiq Khan’s warning that the spread of the virus was out of control in the capital and that London’s hospitals were on the cusp of being overwhelmed. The councillors, in the letter dated 12th January, said: “Current national guidance is for places of worship to remain open, however, given the urgent need to reduce infection rates in London we are now asking places of worship to consider voluntarily closing for a period of time while the number of cases remains dangerously high.