Boris Johnson sets out coronavirus roadmap for easing lockdown

Boris Johnson used his address to the nation on Sunday night to confirm that there will be no immediate end to lockdown. The Prime Minister described coronavirus as the ‘most vicious threat this country has faced’ in his lifetime and praised the public for adhering to social distancing – describing such measures as the only way to defeat the virus. However, he said there was still a long way to go and that a significant relaxation of lockdown was not yet possible as it would risk a second peak of infections.

Instead, Johnson presented a roadmap to an eventual return of some form of normality. He reiterated his government’s five tests for easing lockdown and suggested that on the fourth point of sufficient supply of PPE there was some way to go. Johnson said the rate of infection – also known as the R number – must stay below 1 at all times.