No10 promises more detail on lockdown being lifted ‘in coming days’

The PM's spokesman has shed some light on what easing lockdown could look like.

Any changes to the UK’s lockdown would involve ‘refining’ rather than axing it completely, Boris Johnson’s spokesperson has said, with more details promised in the ‘coming days’.

Speaking at a Downing Street briefing, he insisted the prime minister would stick to his promise of ‘maximum transparency’ about the UK’s next steps.

The PM has faced calls to lay down an exit strategy upon his return to work following his battle with coronavirus. In a statement earlier today, he said lockdown must continue for now but promised more detail on what any changes could look like by the end of the week.

His spokesman has shed light on the nature of the information that might be coming soon, saying strict rules could be tightened in some areas while loosened in others.

He said: ‘We will not be immediately returning to life as we formerly knew it.

‘People will have to acclimatise to what Dominic Raab called a ‘new normal’.’

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A ‘new normal’ is being used by several governments to describe how life might look when some draconian measures currently in place are lifted. Ideas that have been floated include allowing people to see a ‘small bubble’ of friends, though social distancing is expected to be in place for much of the year.

It is understood Mr Johnson is considering ‘modifying’ lockdown measures ahead of the May 7 deadline but it is thought he won’t do so unless the science backs it.

The PM’s spokesperson confirmed lockdown would be reviewed by this date, but said measures could be eased, strengthened or not changed at all. This will depend on whether the UK has met the government’s five tests which must be passed before lockdown can be loosened.

The No10 spokesman said that the next set of ‘documents and evidence’ from the government’s scientific advisors, SAGE, will be published this week.

There have been calls for greater transparency over the emergency body meetings after it emerged the PM’s chief adviser Dominic Cummings was sitting in on them. The names of Sage members who want to be named will be published in the coming days.

Despite Downing Street saying the PM was back full time and resuming all responsibilities and duties, he will not be attending today’s daily press briefing.

In his address to the nation earlier today, Mr Johnson said that the UK is starting to come to the end of the first phase of the outbreak as he pleaded with the nation to ‘keep going’.

He said: ‘It is still true that this is the biggest single challenge this country has faced since the war and I in no way minimise the continuing problems we face.

‘And yet it is also true that we are making progress with fewer hospital admissions, fewer Covid patients in ICU and real signs now that we are passing through the peak.

‘And thanks to your forbearance, your good sense your altruism, your spirit of community, thanks to our collective national resolve, we are on the brink of achieving that first clear mission to prevent our National Health Service from being overwhelmed in a way that tragically we have seen elsewhere.

‘And that is how and why we are now beginning to turn the tide.’

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