The UK government has confirmed that the lockdown imposed to curb the spread of the COVID-19 will remain in place for at least three more weeks.
Foreign secretary Dominic Raab who is in acting capacity as Prime Minister announced the widely expected extension as hundreds across the country continues to die daily from the outbreak. “We’re now at both a delicate and dangerous phase in this pandemic, now is not the moment to give the coronavirus a second chance,”
“The government has decided that the current measures must remain in place for at least the next three weeks,” said Raab — who is standing in for prime minister Boris Johnson.
Raab further set out five prerequisites for easing restrictions which included a “sustained and consistent fall in the daily death rates,” confidence that hospitals could cope with the flow of patients, more capacity for testing, more protective equipment, and judgment, made with the advice of government health experts, that there would not be a second wave of infections.
With 861 new deaths announced on Thursday 100 more than the day before along with complaints about a lack of masks and gloves, and a major shortfall in testing, Britain appears far from meeting three of those prerequisites. Only the hospitals, with a small decline in the number of coronavirus patients and a growing number of beds, are a bright spot.
