Dominic Raab has this evening confirmed that there will a lockdown extension of three weeks. The First Secretary of State said that while there had been encouraging signs that the rate of infection had significantly reduced, it was still too early to break away from any lockdown measures. He said the most dangerous thing for both public health and the economy would be a second wave of coronavirus infections.
While the government line remains that ministers will not publicly discuss an exit strategy on the grounds that it distracts from the current social distancing measure, Raab went the furthest he has in addressing the issue. The Foreign Secretary set out the criteria that would have to be met for any lockdown easing:
1) Evidence that the NHS can cope across the UK
2) A sustained fall in daily death rates
3) Evidence that the rate of infection is decreasing
4) Confidence that supplies of testing and PPE are able to meet demand
5) No risk of a second peak
While No.
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