Unic Press UK: The lockdown (movement restrictions) and the other measures to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic, which commenced on 23 March 2020 in the UK, has been extended, and would continue for another three weeks at the minimum, says the MP for Esher and Walton and Foreign Secretary & First Secretary of State, Dominic Raab, who is deputizing for the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson.
“We still don’t have the infection rate down as far as we need to. If we rush to relax the measures that we have in place we would risk wasting all the sacrifices and all the progress that has been made. That would risk a quick return to another lockdown with all the threat to life that a second peak to the virus would bring and all the economic damage that a second lockdown would carry”, said Raab.
Raab said the five conditions that must be met before the current measures would be relaxed are:
- Confidence that the NHS can cope, and provide the necessary critical care and specialist treatment
- A proof of exiting the peak of the current health crisis with a “sustained and consistent” decline in the daily death rate
- Reliable data illustrating that the rate of infection is within manageable levels
- Improved testing capacity and adequate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to meet future demand
- Confidence that relaxing the current measures would not trigger another round of a peak of COVID-19 infection
Update on COVID-19 in the UK
As of 9am 16 April, 417,649 tests have concluded, with 18,665 tests on 15 April.
327,608 people have been tested of which 103,093 tested positive.
As of 5pm on 15 April, of those hospitalised in the UK who tested positive for coronavirus, 13,729 have sadly died. pic.twitter.com/z6FNsommq9
— Department of Health and Social Care (@DHSCgovuk) April 16, 2020