{"id":3201,"date":"2020-05-11T16:12:55","date_gmt":"2020-05-11T09:12:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/illume-emag.com\/?p=3201"},"modified":"2020-05-11T16:12:55","modified_gmt":"2020-05-11T09:12:55","slug":"no-end-lockdown-yet-careful-easing-begins-british-pm-johnson-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lavyon.com\/en\/no-end-lockdown-yet-careful-easing-begins-british-pm-johnson-says\/","title":{"rendered":"No end to lockdown yet but ‘careful’ easing begins, British PM Johnson says"},"content":{"rendered":"

LONDON \u2014 The coronavirus lockdown will not end yet, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Sunday, urging people to \u201cstay alert\u201d to the risks as he outlined plans to begin slowly easing measures that have closed much of the economy for seven weeks.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks during filming of his address to the nation from No. 10 Downing Street following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), London, Britain, May 10, 2020. Photo: Reuters<\/em><\/p>\n

While his directions were for England, the government wants the United Kingdom\u2019s other nations to take the same approach.<\/p>\n

But there were immediate divisions, with the leaders of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland saying they were sticking with the existing \u201cstay-at-home\u201d message.<\/p>\n

In a televised address, Johnson announced a limited easing of restrictions, including allowing people to exercise outside more often and encouraging some people to return to work.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not the time simply to end the lockdown,\u201d he said. \u201cInstead we are taking the first careful steps to modify our measures.\u201d<\/p>\n

The government has faced criticism over its handling of the pandemic and Johnson is wary of taking the brakes off too soon. Britain\u2019s coronavirus death toll \u2014 31,855 \u2014 is the second highest in the world, behind the United States.<\/p>\n

With both the death rate and hospital admissions falling, it would be \u201cmadness\u201d to allow a second spike in infections, he said.<\/p>\n

But the decision to replace the government\u2019s \u201cstay-at-home\u201d slogan, drummed into the public for weeks, was criticised by opposition parties who called the new \u201cstay alert\u201d message ambiguous.<\/p>\n

Johnson said people should continue to work from home if they could, but those who cannot, such people working in construction and manufacturing, should be \u201cactively encouraged to go to work\u201d.<\/p>\n

From Wednesday, people will be allowed to take unlimited amounts of outdoor exercise, he said, and can sit in the sun in their local park, drive to other destinations, and play sports with members of their own household.<\/p>\n

Until now, people have been told only to exercise outdoors once a day and do so locally. Social distancing rules must still be obeyed, Johnson said, adding that fines would be increased for those who break them.<\/p>\n

Johnson said he would set out further details to parliament on Monday, when a \u201croadmap\u201d document will be published.<\/p>\n

But opposition Labour leader Keir Starmer said Johnson had raised more questions than he had answered and there was now the prospect of different parts of the United Kingdom pulling in different directions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat the country wanted tonight was clarity and consensus, but we haven\u2019t got either of those,\u201d he said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Ambiguity<\/strong><\/p>\n

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the only modification she was making to lockdown measures was to allow people to exercise more.<\/p>\n

\u201c[That] is the only change that the Scottish government judges that it is safe to make right now without risking a rapid resurgence of the virus,\u201d she told a news conference, adding she had asked the UK government not to use its \u201cstay alert\u201d advertising campaign in Scotland.<\/p>\n

Britain\u2019s economy \u2014 the world\u2019s fifth largest \u2014 has been hammered by the pandemic and the lockdown measures.<\/p>\n

Business groups welcomed Johnson\u2019s statement but said companies would need more advice on how to get people back to work safely.<\/p>\n

The government has faced steady questions from Labour and others on why the country was not locked down earlier, why it has struggled to deliver mass testing and why there have been shortages of protective equipment for medics and care workers.<\/p>\n

Johnson himself was critically ill with COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the coronavirus, last month.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Sunday Times<\/em>\u00a0reported scientific advisers had told the government that deaths could exceed 100,000 by the end of the year if lockdown measures are relaxed too fast.<\/p>\n

As of Sunday, Britain had reported some 219,183 confirmed infections.<\/p>\n

Johnson detailed an alert system ranging from \u2018green\u2019 level 1, to \u2018red\u2019 level 5, to allow the government to flag risks in different parts of England and to adapt restrictions where necessary. He said the country was on level 4 and could begin to move to level 3.<\/p>\n

At the earliest by June 1, the government may be able to begin the phased reopening of shops and get some younger pupils back into schools, he said, adding by July at the earliest, there could be an opening of some of the hospitality industry and other public places if they enforce social distancing.<\/p>\n

Britain will soon also begin to quarantine people arriving into the country by air, Johnson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThroughout this period of the next two months we will be driven not by mere hope or economic necessity. We are going to be driven by the science, the data and public health,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will be monitoring our progress locally, regionally, and nationally and if there are outbreaks, if there are problems, we will not hesitate to put on the brakes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Theo Reuters<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LONDON \u2014 The coronavirus lockdown will not end yet, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Sunday, urging people to \u201cstay alert\u201d to the risks as he outlined plans to begin slowly easing measures that have closed much of the economy for seven weeks. Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks during filming of his address […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3202,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[761],"tags":[1087,1123,1566],"class_list":{"0":"post-3201","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrity-buzz","8":"tag-coronavirus","9":"tag-covid-19","10":"tag-ncov-en"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lavyon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lavyon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lavyon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lavyon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lavyon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3201"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lavyon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3201\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lavyon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lavyon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lavyon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lavyon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}