Rejected petition Encourage people to exercise safely outdoors during the covid-19 crisis.

On 5/4/2020, Matt Hancock warned that, unless people follow the Covid guidelines on physical distancing, he would consider a total ban on exercising outdoors.
Covid is a shocking disease, causing thousands of early deaths beyond the usual level – but Hancock's move would make things worse.

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Physical activity is important for many other aspects of physical health, and for mental health.
It poses no real risk if done responsibly.
A ban would distract attention and police resources away from other, more effective, actions.
It would be 'collective punishment' of the majority who are doing their best to help with the Covid effort
It would particulary punish people without a garden to move about or relax in.

This petition was rejected

Why was this petition rejected?

We can't publish petitions when the request is something that's already happening or something that has been announced since you started your petition.

We think your petition is covered by Government or Parliament action already. If you'd like something else, you could start a new petition clearly explaining what it is.

Since you started your petition the Government has relaxed the coronavirus restrictions, including relating to outdoor exercise. The Government has published an FAQ on what you currently can and can't do here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-outbreak-faqs-what-you-can-and-cant-do/coronavirus-outbreak-faqs-what-you-can-and-cant-do#gatherings-public-spaces-and-outdoor-activities

You can find out more about coronavirus and how you can protect yourself and others here:

www.gov.uk/coronavirus
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/

The Government has also created an online service to help you find out what you can do if you’re struggling because of coronavirus: https://www.gov.uk/find-coronavirus-support

You can read NHS tips to help if you are worried about coronavirus here: https://www.nhs.uk/oneyou/every-mind-matters/coronavirus-covid-19-anxiety-tips

You can read impartial analysis of the Government response to coronavirus and policy developments here: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/coronavirus/

You may also be interested to know that because of the large number of petitions that have been started in relation to coronavirus, the Petitions Committee has been questioning the Government about its response to the coronavirus outbreak.

Find out more: https://committees.parliament.uk/work/192/the-governments-response-to-coronavirus/

We only reject petitions that don’t meet the petition standards.

Date submitted 6 April 2020
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