What will open first after the UK coronavirus lockdown?
ACCORDING to new reports seen by ministers, coffee shops, restaurants and estate agents could be the fist to open when lockdown restrictions are lifted.
They are said to provide the biggest boost to the economy while posing less of a threat of transmitting the coronavirus.
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What will open first after the UK coronavirus lockdown?
Coffee shops
In reports seen by The Sun, Tory peer Lord Gadhia and GlaxoSmithKline chairman Sir Jonathan Symonds lay out plans to gradually bring the UK out of lockdown.
The proposal circulated around Whitehall says that Britain must “learn to live with Covid as the disease cannot be fully eradicated without a vaccine which could see mass production in 12 to 18 months time.
The report says: “The initial focus for reopening the economy should be on sectors that have the greatest multiplier effects with minimum risks.”
It goes on to state that coffee shops support agriculture and are needed to boost the failing economy.
Coffee shops which reopen would have to undergo revamps to ensure social distancing is practised.
Pret A Manger has said already said it will reopen 10 sites around hospitals and doctor’s practices from 8am on Thursday, April 17.
Restaurants
As with coffee shops, the report suggest restaurants must be reopened as they will provide a much needed boost to the UK’s economy.
Restaurants along with coffee shops must ensure safety by installing screens or redesign their interior to make sure there are big gaps between tables, according to suggestions laid out in the proposal.
A number of fast food chains are looking to find ways in which they can gradually begin to reopen.
Burger King has said four of their sites – two in Bristol, one in Coventry and one in Swindon – will open.
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Estate agents
Reopening estate agents, according to the report will be vital in overturning the country’s economic woes.
“The property market is another that has wide multiplier effects,” the report says.
It goes on to add: “We need to avoid a stop-start economy which would sap public morale and damage business confidence further”
Schools
The report the by the pair also suggest reopening schools and ‘releasing’ the younger generation back into the economy is essential.
The new Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer has also called for schools to be the first to open following the lockdown.
In an interview on the BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he said that while Labour would support the idea of the lockdown being extended, he stated that schools remaining shut is worsening the inequality gap between children who come from a home with resources and those who do not.
When questioned on whether Labour would support the reopening of schools, he said: “What I’m saying is we need to know what the strategy is, discuss it, challenge it and check that its right,”
When pushed further to state his position on whether he his party would support schools being opened, he replied: “In principle, yes.
More on coronavirus
When will lockdown end?
According to First Secretary Of State Dominic Raab, lockdown measures will be in place for at least another three weeks.
The lockdown is expected to be reevaluated on May 7.
Mr Raab warned the UK has a “long way to go” in its battle against coronavirus which has so far infected over 98,400 people in the UK and killed more than 13,000.