Will post offices be open during the lockdown in England?

Boris Johnson has announced England is set to go back into lockdown from midnight on Thursday.

The second full nationwide shut-down of 2020, in a bid to curb the second wave of coronavirus, will see non-essential retail forced to close once again along with gyms, hairdressers and beauty salons, while people will once again be urged to stay at home apart from a few exceptions.

Essential shops and other services will be allowed to remain open, however, as with the previous lockdown earlier this year.

But will post offices be among them?

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Will post offices be open during the lockdown?

Although the Government has not mentioned post offices in its newly published lockdown guidance, post offices are classed as an essential service and as such will almost certainly stay open during lockdown.

Post offices were open during the last lockdown back in March, while postal deliveries also continued during this time – and Royal Mail will continue to do so this time around.

They have confirmed on their website the measures they have put in place to keep staff and customers safe, including changing the time guarantee on Special Delivery, and altering the opening hours of Customer Service Points at local delivery offices.

Royal Mail also recently launched its new Parcel Collect service – which is available six days a week, and sees people’s parcels being collected from their door at a cost of 72p per parcel plus postage costs.

Is it safe to receive mail?

The short answer is yes – the chances of someone contracting a Covid infection from letters or parcels delivered through the mail is low.

While it’s known that the virus can live on surfaced, The World Health Organisation said earlier this year that ‘the risk of catching the virus that causes Covid-19 from a package that has been moved, travelled and exposed to different conditions and temperature is low’.

Royal Mail also addressed the issue, saying: ‘From experience with other coronaviruses, we know that these types of viruses don’t survive long on objects, such as letters or parcels.’

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