UK lockdown to remain ‘at least three weeks’

British foreign secretary rejects calls for staged exit from the extreme social distancing measures, saying it was a ‘delicate and dangerous time’.

Britain’s Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab takes part in a national “clap for carers” to show thanks for the work of Britain’s National Health Service (NHS). Picture: AFP

British foreign secretary Dominic Raab has announced the extension of the coronavirus lockdown across the UK for a “further three weeks, at least”, curiously saying it was for economic as well as health grounds.

Mr Raab rejected calls by the country’s leading economists, small business owners and entrepreneurs to begin a staged exit from the extreme social distancing measures, saying it was a “delicate and dangerous time”.

Slow to turn: how the UK is lagging

But Mr Raab acknowledged the dire economic forecasts that the country faced GDP plummeting by a third and jobless skyrocketing beyond 10 per cent by insisting that the economic damage would be somehow worse if the shutdown didn’t continue.

In other words, Mr Raab believes that by keeping the economy suppressed the country is somehow better off.

Thanks to your sacrifices, social distancing is working. But if we stop now, we risk increasing the spread of #coronavirus.

We’re extending the rules by at least three weeks, and will not change the rules until five tests are met ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/KJnDYFguLK

— UK Prime Minister (@10DowningStreet) April 16, 2020

“The very clear advice we have received is that any change to our social distancing measures now would risk a significant increase in the spread of the virus,” he said in the daily press conference.

“That would threaten a second peak of the virus, and substantially increase the number of deaths.

“It would undo the progress made to date, and as a result, would require an even longer period of the more restrictive social distancing measures.

“So early relaxation would do more damage to the economy over a longer period.

“I want to be clear about this. The advice from SAGE is that relaxing any of the measures currently in place would risk damage to both public health and our economy.’’

On Thursday, the UK announced 861 more deaths, bringing the total to 13,729. Officials said 90 per cent of deaths were people with comorbidities.

Mr Raab said there were five tests the government was looking at before considering any relaxation of the lockdown.

Slides from today’s #coronavirus press conference (16 April 2020):

🔵 Transport use change
🔵 New coronavirus cases in the UK
🔵 People in hospital beds with COVID-19 in Great Britain
🔵 Global comparison of deaths

➡️ https://t.co/2d5najyxYn pic.twitter.com/qz65ouVXJS

— UK Prime Minister (@10DowningStreet) April 16, 2020

They are a sustained fall in daily death rates, sufficiently high numbers of protective personal equipment, testing and critical care, and that the NHS would not be overwhelmed if any measures were changed.

Mr Raab said: “Now is not the time to give coronavirus a second chance.”

While the R rate of transmission of the virus had fallen below 1, Mr Raab said there was a problem of containment in care homes.

“SAGE assess that the rate of infection, or the R value, is almost certainly below 1 in the community,” he said.

“That means that on average each infected person is, in turn, infecting less than one other person.

“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.”