Coronavirus: Boris Johnson to unveil next stage of relaxing lockdown on Tuesday

Boris Johnson will this week reveal the next stage in the relaxation of the coronavirus lockdown and announce the conclusions of a review into the two-metre social distancing rules.

The prime minister said on Sunday he is “sticking absolutely like glue” to the roadmap he set out in an address to the nation in May, with the anticipated re-opening of sections of the hospitality sector, including bars and restaurants, from 4 July.

On Monday, Mr Johnson will meet with senior cabinet ministers at the daily Downing Street Covid-19 strategy committee where they will hear recommendations from experts on social distancing rules and the planned easing of lockdown.

The following day the wider cabinet will be consulted and Mr Johnson will then set out the government’s position to MPs in the House of Commons. It is expected the two-metre rule will be relaxed to one metre amid widespread concerns from the hospitality sector.

A No 10 spokesperson said: “The reason we are able to move forward this week is because the vast majority of people have taken steps to contain the virus. The more we open up, the more important it is that everyone follows the social distancing rules.”

But they also warned: “We will not hesitate to put the handbrake on to stop the virus running out of control.”

Speaking to the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show, Matt Hancock said the government was “on track” to reopen more businesses next month. Claiming that “a lot of the country does need a haircut”, the health secretary said that he is “not going to rule out” hairdressers and barbers also being able to reopen on 4 July.

Following clear signals from both the prime minister and the chancellor regarding the easing of the two-metre social distancing guidelines, Mr Hancock said other measures such as perspex screens and masks would be used to mitigate the risk of increasing the transmission rate of the coronavirus if the rule is reduced to one metre.

No 10 added that following a consultation with the industry, detailed guidance will also be published this week for each sector so “businesses that do open can be Covid secure”.

But a group of independent scientists set up to mirror the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) said at the weekend it was “not safe” to relax the two metre rule for indoor settings as the risk of transmission was still too high.

The “Independent SAGE” group, led by the government’s former chief scientific adviser Sir David King, warned the change in guidance to one metre will “effectively end “ social distancing in England.

Sir David said the move was “extremely concerning”, adding: “The rate of infection is still far too high to consider this even with mitigating measures. There are more than 1,000 new cases a day and still no functioning tracing system. It is vital the government releases the evidence it has used to make this decision.”

Questioned on whether Labour would support the relaxation of the two-metre rule, the shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth told the BBC: “Yes, under certain circumstances. But we also need to see a greater use of face masks, I would’ve thought.”

“As I’ve said, certain staff, workers who are very public-facing in their day-to-day action, perhaps greater use of face shielding, let’s get testing and tracing up and running,” he said.

Source: UK Politics - www.independent.co.uk