Some British gyms defy PM Johnson's COVID-19 lockdown

For one gym owner in the northwest of England, Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s latest COVID-19 lockdown is a step too far. To save his business, he is defying the government’s command to close, along with dozens of other gyms in the area. Governments across the world have imposed some of the most severe restrictions in peacetime history to tackle the coronavirus, to varying degrees of success. The virus has killed more than a million people and Europe is deep in a second wave. The measures have also pushed many companies, and in some cases whole sectors, out of business. Some feel ignored and are starting to push back against the rules. “We’re supposed to be closed but we are open,” Chris Ellerby-Hemmings, 36, owner of EmpoweredFit Gym in Greasby, near Liverpool, told Reuters.