THREESY DOES IT
PM CONFIRMS EASING OF LOCKDOWN COVID ALERT RE LEVEL FOUR
BRITAIN’S Covid alert status has been lowered to level three – as Boris Johnson confirmed the third and biggest lifting yet of lockdown rules next Monday.
The move was agreed by the UK’s four chief medical officers, thanks to a ‘consistent’ fall in cases, hospital admissions and deaths, now at their lowest since last July. With indoor mixing and hugging to return, the prime minister said: ‘Today, we are announcing the single biggest step on our road map and it will allow us to do many of the things we’ve yearned to do for a long time.’
It came on the first day since March 7 last year with no Covid deaths recorded in England – and as data showed more
than a third of UK adults have now received two vaccine doses. Mr Johnson thanked the public ‘for the patience and sacrifices you’ve been making’.
He added: ‘Your efforts have visibly paid off, giving us the time to vaccinate more than two-thirds of all adults across the UK with nearly 18million people also receiving their second dose.’
The PM confirmed that from May 17 people would be free to meet friends and family in parks, gardens and other outdoor areas, with the legal limit on outdoor gatherings raised to 30.
Outdoor arenas can host live events with up to 4,000 attendees, or 10,000 for large outdoor seated venues where crowds can spread out.
Gatherings in homes will be allowed again – for up to six people or groups from two households.
Indoor recreation will restart, including cinemas, theatres, sports and indoor seating at pubs and restaurants.
And students can return to lectures and in-person classes.
Hotels, hostels and B&Bs in England can re-open, with domestic overnight stays allowed in groups of up to six people or two households.
Care-home residents in England will be able to have up to five named visitors and will no longer have to self-isolate for 14 days after leaving the premises for medical care.
Mr Johnson also updated advice on social distancing, allowing people to hug loved-ones again – although he insisted: ‘Whoever I hug will be done with caution and restraint.’
All remaining restrictions should end on June 21, though there have been calls from businesses and some of the PM’s Conservative MPs to unlock even sooner.
But he insisted: ‘I think it’s very important that we should proceed cautiously but hopefully irreversibly.’
The move from level four to three was announced earlier by NHS England national medical director Stephen Powis and chief medical officers for England,
Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. They said: ‘Thanks to the efforts of the UK public in social distancing and the impact we are starting to see from the vaccination programme, case numbers, deaths and Covid hospital pressures have fallen consistently.
‘However, Covid is still circulating with people catching and spreading the virus every day, so we all need to continue to be vigilant. This remains a major pandemic globally.
‘It is very important that we all continue to follow the guidance closely and everyone gets both doses of the vaccine when they are offered it.’
Health secretary Matt Hancock welcomed the lowering of the alert level, saying: ‘This is a sign we’re making progress against the virus.
‘We aren’t there yet but, thanks to the vaccine, we’re making good progress.’
He also described as ‘life-changing’ new data suggesting a single dose of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine cuts the risk of death with Covid-19 by about 80 per cent, while two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech version reduce it by 97 per cent.
The developments came as Britain’s coronavirus death toll rose by another four – all in Wales – to 127,609, with 2,357 confirmed new cases in the latest 24-hour period.
And there were also concerns raised about a new Indian variant of the virus, with the World Health Organization yesterday designating it a ‘variant of global concern’ with evidence suggesting ‘increased transmissibility’.
Cases of the variant in Britain have more than doubled in a week to 520.
England’s chief medical officer Prof Chris Whitty told the Downing Street briefing: ‘It is beginning to spread in certain parts of the country – we need to keep quite a close eye on this.’