Cabinet minister Robert Jenrick has revealed the country’s threat rating from coronavirus is currently four out of five on a new tier warning system, claiming ministers will be able to reopen certain aspects of the economy as the level is reduced.
The communities secretary’s comments come as Boris Johnson prepares to unveil the government’s “roadmap” for easing the lockdown on Sunday evening in his second major address to the nation during pandemic.
The new colour-coded alert scheme, ranging from green to red, will be used to highlight any increased risk from the virus and is expected to be similar to the system used by ministers and security officials to assess the threat from terrorism in the UK.
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Speaking on Sky News’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday, Mr Jenrick said: “ It will be very transparent, people will be able to see at what point we are in controlling the virus. At the moment we believe the country is at four on a scale of five, with five being the most concerning.”
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He added: “Our aspiration is to bring that down as swiftly as we can to three. At each of those milestones we’ll be in a position to open up and restart more aspects of the economy and our lives. We’re going to be rigorously monitoring our performance against that.
“That will be done on a national scale, but the evidence behind that will also be able to inform what we do at a local level. And if we see that their are outbreaks in particular localities, neighbourhoods, schools, towns, then we may be able to take particular measures in those places.
The cabinet minister also said that the NHS contact tracing app being trailed on the Isle of Wight had so far been dowloaded by 50,000 people – around 35 per cent of residents.
Amid tensions between the devolved administration’s of the UK government’s approach to the next phase of the virus, Mr Jenrick added it was the prime minister’s “strong preference” for the four nations to agree to maintain a joint response to Covid-19.
“Our strong preference is the whole United Kingdom moves as one,” he said. “We hope that they will agree to a consistent approach across the country, that’s our strong preference.”
