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If lockdown has left you climbing the walls despite a Google calendar full of virtual events and stacks of stale banana bread, then brace yourself, because we’re not out of the woods yet.
In today’s (Thursday April 16) Downing Street briefing, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said that an extension of the UK’s lockdown measures by ‘at least’ a further three weeks was essential for public health and for the economy. The government said we still do not have the infection rate down ‘as far as we need to’ in order to relax the restrictions on movement.
The UK entered into a nationwide lockdown on March 23 with an address from Boris Johnson saying the emergency measures would be in place for at least three weeks. Now, new laws say the restrictions must be reviewed at least once every 21 days, meaning the lockdown will be reviewed again by Thursday May 7.
The announcement from Raab – currently deputising for Boris Johnson as he recovers from the illness – comes after the government announced an increase of 861 deaths due to coronavirus, raising the UK’s total to 13,729.
The news from today’s briefing follows a tweet from health minister Nadine Dorries last night suggesting the UK would not be able to come out of lockdown fully until a vaccine existed: ‘There is only one way we can 'exit' full lockdown and that is when we have a vaccine. Until then, we need to find ways we can adapt society and strike a balance between the health of the nation and our economy.’
So, keep baking that banana bread – you’ve still got plenty of time to perfect it.
Read up on what you can go outside for, when and who with while London is in lockdown.
Discover the best things to do at home right now.