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High Street commercial chains such as Primark, John Lewis, and Next will extend their trading hours to access more trade. M&S has also decided to open hundreds of stores until midnight. Currys PC World will also extend trading hours.

Irish retail giant Primark has decided to open eleven of its stores for 24 hours per day.

The company has also decided to open its other chains for extended hours.

The opening of retail chains for 24 hours per day is a desperate bid to offset the £900 million a day economic hit that the sector has taken because of coronavirus lockdown conditions.

The Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) estimates the UK’s coronavirus restriction tier system will cost the economy in England £900 million every day up to Christmas and into the new year.

The CEBR research estimates England’s gross domestic product will be 13 percent smaller when compared with this time last year.

The overall economic hit expected in December could amount to £20 billion.

The Government is said to be considering more cash support for restaurants, pubs, and other businesses hit by the lockdown and tier restrictions.

Now that lockdown is coming to an end, non-essential shops and services will be able to reopen.

But the new tier system that the Government is implementing after the lockdown will be more strict than the system before it.

Today Government’s scientific advisers from the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) announced that Christmas shoppers should try to spend less than 15 minutes in every shop they visit.

This call to stop browsing is to minimise the chances of coronavirus transmission.

Professor Lucy Yardley, a member of SAGE, said, “Covid-secure sites are not 100 percent risk-free”.

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She said that shoppers should spend as little time as possible within each shop.

She recommended being aware of the need to always wear a mask and practice social distancing.

She added: “Nipping out for a bit of Christmas shopping is not one of the most dangerous things that you can do but the less time that you spend in shops the safer you are.”

Non-essential shops will be allowed to open across England as the four-week national lockdown ends on December 2.

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