If you don't live in England, what are the restrictions or rules where you live ?

[frumpety]

I know that Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have slightly different rules and restrictions, but not sure what they are ? What about other countries outside the UK, what are the restrictions and rules where you live, if any ?

I'm in Italy in an area which is currently "yellow". This means shops are open, bars and restaurants are now open until 6pm. Lots of facilities (pools, gyms, cinemas etc) are closed. You can travel within your region - my region doesn't have any big mountains unfortunately! Schools are open except for high schools where pupils are only in for half the week. Activities like scouts, football (for kids) are taking place with social distancing. Masks must always be worn outside the house.

We’ve never had a lockdown. As of November we’ve not been able to mix households inside but there’s no formal restrictions about what you can do outside. Life seems pretty normal in a lot of ways- bars and restaurants, swimming pools all open but you need to book ahead. Schools are open. I think I theory if you go to the pub you can only go with your household of with one/two others if you live alone or something, but bars seem pretty busy to me. Lots of people are WFH but not all. Kids are going to school and skiing this week and seeing their friends as normal really. Western Canada.

Sometimesonly are you allowed to meet up with other people outside or indoors ?

I'm in Dubai. Everything is open (shops, restaurants, play areas, schools etc) although a lot of people are still working from home if they can.

Mask wearing is mandatory for everyone (I think aged 6 and above) every time you leave the house. And there are some restrictions on how many people can sit at the same table in restaurants etc. There is also a recently re-introduced ban on live entertainment and a maximum of 10 people from the same immediate family only can get together for a social gathering.

Testing is prevalent here and thank god, so is the vaccine. Most people I know have either already received their first jab, or are booked in to have it.

We have travel restrictions in place that are specific to each country but am hopeful that these will start to ease again once more people have been vaccinated and we see a further drop in positive cases.

Perth WA
Until 1pm yesterday afternoon ( 31st January) everything was normal. Everything open, people back to work , enjoying the weekend and the kids looking forward to their first day back to school today ( Monday 1st).
Then bang. A security guy has tested positive. 1st community spread in nearly 10 months.
Lockdown started 6pm 31st January. 5 hours after announcing it. Essential shops only open, only allowed out for essential shopping ( only one person from each household), masks to be worn everywhere, no weddings , no school, no travel outside your house unless for an hours exercise ( only allowed with one other household member and with a mask on). And the exercise has to be local. Roads within regions now shut by police. It’s weird.
Hopefully Friday 6pm comes with no new cases. We’ve gone 24 hours with no new cases.

Has that been the case across all of Canada or do different areas have different restrictions @Coffeeand ?

I'm in Wales. Can't travel for exercise, can't have a support bubble for a child under 1. Until last Friday, couldn't meet anyone outside for exercise. Other than that, very similar to England, but we have had stricter rules pretty much all the time - for instance, there's never been a point when it was allowed to meet indoors with someone you weren't bubbled with. So it feels to me as if we've been locked down pretty much for nearly a year, which is frankly absolutely grim.

Australia. QR codes for all shops/cafes. Half attendance numbers at things like sports matches and concerts. Room limits for meetings which are generally ignored unless you have a little outbreak in your state. The threat of state border closures if you try and go on an interstate holiday and no chance of an international holiday.

Um I think that is it. No masks really apart from by choice for the very vulnerable or if you were in a really tight spot with people although we are much more hardcore on PPE at work as health care professionals than we were before (doing what we actually SHOULD have been doing for flu etc but doctors were pretty shit at it before). No other difference to life from 18 months ago. We are about to have a festival.

Iceland- maximum 20 people gathering (but shops an amount based on square meter age). Masks inside in public places, schools open (recently reopened post 16 though). Pools open with lower capacity than usual, gyms open for booked slots.

Strict testing at border with quarantine and 2nd test five days later.

We are down to between 0 and 5 domestic cases a day (+any that come in at the border)

@Whynotnowbaby

Iceland- maximum 20 people gathering (but shops an amount based on square meter age). Masks inside in public places, schools open (recently reopened post 16 though). Pools open with lower capacity than usual, gyms open for booked slots.

Strict testing at border with quarantine and 2nd test five days later.

We are down to between 0 and 5 domestic cases a day (+any that come in at the border)

I've said loads of times about people per square meter being introduced here. You do think it makes SD easier.

I'm in Western Canada too - in BC. Much of what @Coffeeand is saying is right (kids in schools, restaurants open, shops open)- but we are not meant to be meeting up with anyone outside our household inside or outside, other than 1 person, socially distanced, outside, for exercise. Kids are not meant to be having play dates. Kids are allowed (socially distanced) to meet for guides, sports activities etc - but we are not allowed to go to restaurants, bars etc with anyone other than our immediate household. Don't know if you are in BC or elsewhere @coffeeand but BC is actually stricter than you are indicating. We are being very my very careful - we don't want the limited freedom we have to be taken away....

And there are different restrictions in different provinces in Canada. Here is BC things are actually quite lenient - let's hope they stay that way....

Hong Kong
21 days mandatory hotel quarantine for all arrivals (bar greater China - don't ask it's very controversial!)

Masks worn everywhere but HKers tend to do this is flu season since SARS so really it's annoying but no stress

Beaches, sports facilities etc shut but not the Dance Halls for the rich ladies and their 'instructors' (again controversial- www.ft.com/content/1fe4fab2-ea70-4405-9616-d61beb5c98ae for Hong Kong's dancing Tai Tai's)

Schools online but every day a school can have up to 16% of capacity in - each school handles it differently- for my kids they've have a full week in for each year group, others have had one year group per day.

It's sort of a 'half life' but the big thing is the quarantine which effectively deters all travel.

I am confident that I am about to win covid guidelines inconsistency top trumps..... drum roll.... I give you..........Hong Kong

For context: currently 30-70 cases per day out of population of 7 million.

Sometimesonly are you allowed to meet up with other people outside or indoors ?
Outdoors yes. Indoors I think you can see people you're caring for but I'm not actually sure! We don't have any relatives to look after and nobody is socialising much indoors. Or maybe they're just not inviting me

damn- dark mutterings beat me to it!!

Cant believe I forgot the 21 day quarantine which is going to be extended to aircrew in a few weeks so that'll be interesting given we import basically everything.

We haven't had airmail for basically a year already.

Oh yes, shops here also have a limit to the number of people allowed in. I shop mainly in very small shops so that's usually 1 or 2 people at a time!

@Insert1x20p the travel is a bloody killer.
Let's see how we far after CNY

Bay Area, California. We just got off of a shelter in place order. The big thing that changed was that you could go to the hair salon. Or maybe that's what seemed big because I have a 17 year old that kept checking the order and wanting her hair dyed and cut professionally. Outdoor dining resumed as well.

A massive difference between this second shelter in place order and the original one last Spring was that stores were allowed to stay open even if they did not sell food. Last Spring, only essential stores were allowed to stay open (groceries, hardware, etc.). This time even furniture stores were open. There are just restrictions on how many people are allowed inside, and you have to wait in line outside stores until someone leaves.

aebj
Also Perth. It's amazing how quickly we went from full socializing and work to hard lockdown.
Went shopping this morning and everyone had a mask on which was great to see.

Switzerland - Canton Genève.

All non essential shops are closed, cafes and restaurants are take away only. Masks are mandatory in places where there is usually more footfall (clear as mud that). Free testing has been introduced for anyone whether you’ve got symptoms or not.

Quarantine on arrival (with negative PCR) was 10 days but after the 8th of Feb will be 7 days. Stupidly they let the ski resorts open and social distancing was non existent which made the problem worse.

Switzerland has made a cascade of failures from the beginning when they didn’t do a full lockdown. Masks weren’t being worn and social distancing didn’t exist.

Got to go to work , back later

Ireland: only essential shops open; no pubs , restaurants cafes takeaway only
limited to travel within 5km unless essential, schools closed but there is a push to open on a limited basis for vulnerable children and those with SEN, no dates yet though ,
no religious services, sports etc
Masks mandatory inside, lots wear them outside too
No mixing households inside, can meet one person for exercise outside
Travel inwards -finally have a mandatory quarantine a year on!
Most people that are office based wfh

My parents are in Florida.
Nothing, there are no official restrictions, only guidance.
People travel in and out of the state freely, including from overseas.
However, Most shops and indoor places enforce mask-wearing.
Disneyworld is requiring visitors have face covers & that large visitor parties break into smaller (10) groups for wandering around the park.

I think their schools are all in person learning but many schools/Unis in other states have not allowed that much at all since March 2020.

France - 6pm curfew, bars and restaurants are closed, masks are compulsory everywhere. However, most shops are open (shopping centres and big department stores just closed as of Sunday), schools are open (everyone wears masks even in primary).