You shouldn't book a summer holiday until the coronavirus lockdown ends, according to the UK government

• It is not a good idea to book a summer holiday amid ongoing uncertainty about the coronavirus pandemic, according to a UK government minister.
• 'I won't be booking a summer holiday at this point, let's put it that way,' Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said on Friday.
• His comments suggest the current UK lockdown measures may be enforced until the autumn.
• A group which represents the travel industry said Shapps' comments showed 'a complete disregard for the UK travel industry.'
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The public should not book a summer holiday due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, according to the UK's Transport Secretary.

Grant Shapps advised against booking a summer break because the number of coronavirus cases had not dropped sufficiently to be sure that current restrictions would be lifted by then.

"On the travel advice – should you book your holidays? – clearly people will want to see what the trajectory of this disease is in the next few weeks," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"We've just started to see a flattening of that daily tragic curve which shows the deaths each day. But we're not seeing the declines yet."

"I won't be booking a summer holiday at this point, let's put it that way."

Shapps' comments suggest that government ministers believe the current lockdown measures may be enforced at least until the autumn.

His comments provoked a furious reaction from Abta, the chief lobby group for the travel industry.

A spokesperson said: "It was a thoughtless comment and not based on any facts about what we know today about the future of the pandemic, but it shows complete disregard for the UK travel industry, the hundreds of thousands of people it employs and the struggle it is facing in this current crisis."

They added: "It would be better if the government focused on taking the necessary steps to support the sector rather than undermining confidence in it."

A spokesperson for Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that current guidelines did not allow for holidays.

"In terms of travelling... that is not something that current social distancing guidelines allow for," he said on Friday.

He added: "On travelling abroad the Foreign Office advice remains that you should only travel abroad if absolutely necessary... the current advice does not allow for going on holidays."

Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary who is deputising for Boris Johnson as he continues his recovery from the coronavirus, yesterday said the social distancing measures currently in place would continue for at least another three weeks until May 7, the longest time they can be legally extended.

Raab said there was "light at the end of the tunnel" because the UK was starting to see a flattening of the curve in the number of people dying from the coronavirus.

But he said lifting the measures now would "risk sacrificing all the progress we have made" because it would risk a "second peak" in a few months time, which would overwhelm the NHS.

Despite the announcement, there is growing pressure on the UK government to set out its exit strategy from the coronavirus lockdown.

Labour's leader Keir Starmer has called on the government to publish its strategy saying that the public "need a sense of what comes next."

Other European countries have already started to loosen their lockdown.

Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel, who governs a country that has suffered less than a third of the deaths seen in the UK, this week announced a plan to reopen schools and shops and detailed a wider strategy to ease other restrictions.

But UK ministers have been reluctant to detail such a plan in the apparent belief that it would distract the public from intensive messaging urging them to stay at home.

The prime minister's spokesman on Thursday denied that it was "patronising" to suggest that the public was not capable of being informed about an exit strategy at the same time as respecting social distancing rules.

"Different countries are at different stages in the pandemic," said the prime minister's spokesperson Our focus has to be for now on slowing the rate of transmission and ensuring we have passed through the peak. Our focus is on building the capacity of the NHS and saving lives."

Read the original article on Business Insider