Brits should expect 'limited changes' to lockdown next week, says minister

Kit Heren8 May 2020

British people should not expect major new freedoms on Monday, with "limited changes" expected to the coronavirus lockdown, a minister has said.

Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden added that the public should resist the "temptingly sunny bank holiday weekend" and stick to coronavirus restrictions.

He told the BBC: "The situation remains exactly as it has been for several weeks, that is people should be staying at home in order to protect the NHS and save lives. That hasn’t changed."

Prime Minister Boris Johnson will set out a "roadmap" on Sunday evening for easing coronavirus restrictions that have been in place for around six weeks already.

Culture secretary Oliver Dowden 
AFP via Getty Images

But Government ministers have stressed in recent days that any changes announced will be minor and cautious at first - and could be reversed.

Mr Dowden said on Friday: "As I have been at pains to say… and as the Prime Minister said to us at Cabinet yesterday, the health of the nation comes first so we need to proceed with caution.

“Expect limited moves to begin with and then, over time, if those are starting to work, we can start to go further and what we will be doing is setting out the different steps we could take further along the path so people know where we’re going."

Mr Dowden's comments come amid rising tension between Britain's regions over when to end the lockdown, with speculation that rail services are set to be expanded from mid-May but "strict lockdown" could remain in place until June.

Police officers in a patrol car in Greenwich Park, London
PA

Media reports have also suggested Brits could get a range of possible new freedoms as soon as next Monday, with Boris Johnson's setting his road-map out of the lockdown on Sunday evening.

The Daily Mail reported that people will be allowed unlimited exercise, and garden centres could reopen from Monday, as could places of worship - but only for private prayer.

Meanwhile rail services are set to be added to timetables from May 18, according to the BBC.

The move will see rail services rise to around 70 per cent of their usual capacity to help people get back to work, the corporation reported, citing Government sources.

London St Pancras International railway station has sat virtually empty but railway services could soon expand again 
PA

But amid conflicting reports a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), which is advising the Government on responding to coronavirus, said that leaks could be “incredibly damaging”.

They told the Guardian: “If people are primed to look at things in a certain way, it will shape how they receive the information. So on Sunday they will be looking for the green lights and they won’t notice the red lights. It’s a really powerful way of influencing people."

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said that nothing had changed on Thursday - but admitted that there could be some differences in how the UK's regions begin lifting lockdowns.

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said she would not be "pressured" by London into ending the lockdown "prematurely", after she said that easing restrictions could be "catastrophic".

In Wales, First Minister Mark Drakeford is set to announce his own lockdown plans on Friday at 12.30pm, with the Welsh Government warning of the danger of "mixed messages”.

The bank holiday weekend - which could see temperatures rise to as high as 26C on Saturday - begins with Brits celebrating the 75th anniversary of VE Day on Friday, which marks the end of the Second World War in Europe.

And Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said "we owe so much to the generation of VE Day", as he urged the Government to curb the spread of coronavirus in care homes across the country.

Sir Keir wrote in the Telegraph: "The crisis in our care homes has gone on for too long and we must do everything we can to protect our most vulnerable, many of whom protected our country in its darkest hour."

His plea came after two experts suggested the UK's coronavirus R number - the number of people an average person transmits the virus to - had risen again to near-critical levels due to the severe care home outbreak.

The infection rate is still rising in care homes 
Reuters

But Mr Dowden said the Government was getting a “grip” on the situation in care homes and added that care homes are getting more funding and support to help them through the coronavirus crisis.

He told the BBC that more testing was provided, further personal protective equipment (PPE) was being made available and “a lot of” the £2.7 billion in extra funding for local authorities would go to social care.

He went on: “We are starting to grip this and it is starting to have an effect."

“So while the death rate remains too high, we have seen in the latest figures the number of deaths in care homes start to fall. This is a real priority for the Government,” he added.

Mr Dowden also said that next week he would discuss resuming the Premier League season and said he was "really hopeful" that top-flight football could be played again soon.

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