UK plans 'modest' change to Covid-19 lockdown rules

By Aditi Khanna

London, May 7 () The UK government is considering only a "modest" change to its strict stay-at-home lockdown measures from next week because coronavirus remains "deadly and infectious", UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said on Thursday.

Addressing the daily 10 Downing Street briefing, the senior Cabinet minister said that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will be making a televised address to the British public to lay out the next phase in the country's fight against the pandemic, which has claimed 30,615 lives.

"Because we held firm three weeks ago, we are now in a position to start to think about the next phase in this pandemic," said Raab, as he confirmed that the Cabinet had deliberated on the scientific advice presented by the government's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) on Thursday – the legal deadline for a review of the lockdown.

"The Prime Minister and scientists have developed a roadmap for the next phase, which contains appropriate measures to be taken at appropriate milestones subject to very clear conditions. To get this right, we have set milestones. Some changes can confidently be introduced more quickly than others, some of the other ones will take longer to introduce," he said.

The minister, Johnson's second in command, added that any changes to workplace and school closures will be "modest, small, incremental and very carefully monitored".

The experts at the daily coronavirus briefing also confirmed that as a result of social distancing imposed in the UK on March 23, the 'R' rate of transmission of the deadly virus has been kept under the mark of one, between 0.5 and 0.9, with the total number of cases falling.

Raab said the government would go forward "very carefully" to make sure the virus does not get back its grip on the UK and see the R rate go back up.

Given the legislative deadline this week, the UK's lockdown – requiring people to stay at home unless stepping out for key work such as in the healthcare sector or for one form of daily exercise or to get essentials – has been formally extended.

On Sunday, Johnson is set to announce the easing of some of the measures to "unlock" the economy with the "stay at home and save lives" likely to be diluted. AK NSA