Why Tesco, Sainbury’s, Aldi, Lidl and Asda staff in Sheffield won’t be forced to wear face masks

A No 10 spokesman said: "There is growing evidence that wearing a face covering in an enclosed space helps protect individuals and those around them from coronavirus.

"The Prime Minister has been clear that people should be wearing face coverings in shops and we will make this mandatory from July 24."

The Government has been urging people to wear face coverings in confined spaces such as shops since early May and they have already been made compulsory on public transport in England since mid-June.

The regulations will be made under the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984, with a maximum fine of £100 - reduced to £50 if it is paid within 14 days.

Enforcement of the regulations will be the responsibility of the police.

While shop workers will be asked to encourage compliance, retailers and businesses will not be expected to enforce them

Environment Secretary George Eustice suggested face covering use would not be compulsory for shop staff and said the rules for shoppers would not be enforced until July 24, to give people time to prepare.

He told BBC Breakfast: "We want to give people time to plan and prepare and for retailers to maybe put in place measures to encourage people to do this or potentially even to have some masks themselves if people haven't got one.

"Once you make something mandatory as we're doing now for retail environments it sends a much stronger signal that people will follow in greater numbers."

Asked if the rules will apply to supermarket staff, he said: "They're not being covered by this but I think if you go into most shops you will see that staff for a longer time now have either been wearing face shields or face masks.

"It won't be a compulsory requirement because it won't always be right for every setting in a retail environment, particularly those working behind the tills and so on."

He added the mandatory use of face masks in England would apply to "all shops", but not pubs and restaurants, as he appeared to contradict guidance for hairdressers.

"Hairdressers, you've always required a mask to go to," he told Sky News.

But the Government guidance says: "There is no requirement for the client to wear any additional protection such as a mask or face covering, when the practitioner is wearing a visor."

Mr Eustice added: "We're not for instance mandating the wearing of masks in pubs and restaurants, because obviously people have got to eat.

"We've been evolving the measures we've had as we come out of lockdown and we've been strengthening the guidance progressively on masks making it mandatory first on public transport and now we're going to that next step to make it mandatory in retail environments."