Lockdown easement ‘sensitive’ moment for population

FOREIGN Secretary Dominic Raab has said it is a “sensitive moment” as Britain eases lockdown measures – but the country has to transition.

From today, groups of up to six people will be able to meet outside in England as long as they observe social distancing as part of efforts to fight coronavirus.

Mr Raab said: “This is a sensitive moment.

“We can’t just stay in lockdown forever. We have got to transition.”

Asked whether the lockdown will be tightened again if infection rates increase, Mr Raab told Sky News’ Ridge on Sunday: “We will target, if there is any uptick, and it could be in a locality, it could be in a particular setting, we will target very carefully measures that would apply to it so that we can take these steps but also keep control of the virus.”

Referring to a Government adviser, Mr Raab said: “As Jonathan Van-Tam ... has said, with a precarious moment we can ease up, we can protect life, but also livelihoods, get life back to something resembling normal, but we must monitor it very carefully,

“If there is any up-tick in the number of cases, if we stop making the progress I described, we will have to take further measures again and target the virus wherever it may appear.”

Daily coronavirus testing capacity reached 200,000 on Saturday, including capacity for 40,000 antibody tests a day, meeting the target to reach the milestone by the end of May, Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said.

The Department of Health said the 200,000 testing capacity was reached through diagnostic tests with capacity currently at more than 112,000, antibody testing which adds another 40,000 to the capacity and surveillance testing, which was launched to determine how the virus moved through the population.

Mr Raab told BBC1’s The Andrew Marr Show the easing of the lockdown was needed.

He said: “The reason we can take the steps is that we have met our five tests. We have made progress. Because we have made that progress, steadily, slowly, surely, week in, week out, we can very gradually, very carefully, take the steps that we are taking tomorrow.”

More than two million clinically extremely vulnerable people who have been shielding since March will finally be allowed to spend time with other people outdoors.

But the new freedoms, which will come into effect officially after a hot weekend which has enticed people to beaches and beauty spots, must be treated with caution, England’s deputy chief medical officer has insisted.

Professor Van-Tam said the Government and public had a “dual responsibility” to prevent a second wave of the virus, describing now as a “very dangerous moment”.