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'It's common sense': Boris Johnson insists COVID rules are easy to follow – as 64% say they aren't

Boris Johnson at Wednesday's Downing Street briefing. (Parliamentlive.tv)
'Common sense': Boris Johnson at Wednesday's Downing Street briefing. (@10DowningStreet/Twitter)
  • Boris Johnson insists following COVID rules is “common sense”

  • PM makes remark as poll finds 64% of Brits find government guidance “unclear”

  • Johnson himself has had to apologise for muddling North East rules

  • Visit the Yahoo homepage for more stories

Boris Johnson has insisted following the government’s coronavirus rules is “common sense” – as a poll found 64% of Britons find the guidance “unclear”.

Downing Street has been accused of mixed or confusing messaging over its various local lockdowns across the country.

Johnson, speaking at Wednesday’s Downing Street press conference, said: “People will pick up on various discrepancies or complications, complexities that have arisen as a result of this local approach.

“The best thing I can tell you is that everybody in the North East or elsewhere, in Merseyside, the Midlands – everywhere there are local restrictions – get on the websites, look at precisely what you’re supposed to do.

Watch: Boris Johnson warns of further measures if coronavirus advice ignored

“So much of this is about common sense and about following the basics of the guidance and just restricting the possibility of transmission from yourself to somebody else, or from somebody else to you.”

The remarks came as a YouGov poll, carried out on Wednesday, found 31% of Britons find the government’s guidance “very unclear”, with 33% seeing it as “fairly unclear”.

Only 5% of the 2,109 adults surveyed said it is “very clear”, with 27% finding it “fairly clear”.

Johnson himself made an embarrassing gaffe on Tuesday in which he completely muddled key details about the North East lockdown. He later apologised.

At Wednesday’s briefing, the prime minister urged people to stick to the rules at a “critical moment” as his senior scientists warned hospital admissions are rising and COVID-19 is not under control.

Johnson said no matter how “fed up” people are of the restrictions being imposed, they are the only way to curb the spread of the virus.

Watch: People in England face £10,000 fines for not self-isolating

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