UK government confirms Covid-19 coronavirus lockdown will continue for at least three more weeks
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The UK will remain on lockdown for at least a further three weeks in a bid to avoid a 'second peak' in coronavirus infections it has been announced.
Foregn Secretary Dominc Raab, heading up the governments Prime Minister Boris Johnsn continue to recuperate frim coronavirus, made the announcement at this evening's Downing Street briefing.
It echoed comments made by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon earlier today.
Mr Raab also revealed that more than 100,000 people have now tested positive for Covid-19 across the UK.
Having earlier chaired a meeting of the government's Cobra and Scientific Advisory Group (Sage) for Emergencies committees Mr Raab said five criteria that would have to be met for lock down to be lifted:
- The UK must be “confident” sufficient critical and specialist treatment care can be provided
- There must be a “sustained and consistent fall in the daily death rate”
- There must be reliable data showing that the rate of infection is decreasing to manageable levels
- There must be confidence that the range of operational challenges, including testing capacity and PPE supplies, can be met
- There must be confidence that any adjustments of the current measures will not risk a second peak of infections that would overwhelm the NHS
He said: “There are indications that the measures we have put in place have been successful in slowing down the spread of this virus.
“But overall we still don't have the infection rate down as far as we need to.
"As in other countries we have issues with the virus spreading in some hospitals and care homes and in some the very clear advice we received is that any change to our social distancing measures would risk a significant increase in the spread of the virus.
“That would threaten a second peak of the virus and substantially increase the number of deaths.
"It would undo the progress that we made to date and as a result would require an even longer period of the more restrictive social distancing measures.
“The worst thing that we could do right now is to ease up too soon, allow a second peak of the virus to hit the NHS and hit the British people – it will be the worst outcome not just for public health but for the economy and for our country as a whole.”
