Ministers are reviewing how to ease lockdown restrictions in England with reports suggesting that Easter staycations may be allowed seeing as more than 15 million people have received their first dose of the vaccine.
Boris Johnson hailed the achievement as a “significant milestone” in the fight against Covid. The vaccine progress has allowed the Prime Minister to outline how restrictions in England may be eased, ahead of publishing his “road-map” out of lockdown on February 22.
Boris Johnson’s blueprint will not give dates but will lay out the sequence in which restrictions will be lifted.
Boris Johnson said they would have to study the data “very, very hard” for evidence that the rollout of the vaccines is the cause of the decrease in Covid case numbers. While the PM was “optimistic” that a “cautious” easing of lockdown restrictions would be possible, he said that he did not want to be forced to perform further U-turns due to another wave.
Ministers are reportedly looking at plans that would allow people to go away for self-catering breaks as soon as the Easter holidays. Families who live in the same household could be allowed to go on breaks together from April in more ambitious plans that could see “big movements” of people across the country. How quickly restrictions will be lifted depends on scientific advice, with infection rates, and the number of hospitalisations and deaths among the factors.
The Health Secretary, Matt Hancock said ministers “absolutely” wanted this lockdown to be the last. He added: “Having a sustainable exit, so lifting the measures in such a way that can be sustainable and we don’t have to have another lockdown, that is obviously an important part of our considerations. For me, making sure that as we lift measures, we do so carefully and cautiously to make sure that we don’t have to put them on again, that is at the core of the judgment we have to make.”
The number of people infected with Covid-19 in the UK, where most restrictions have been lifted, is approaching record levels in relative indifference, according to estimates published on Friday 25 March.
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