LONDON:The U.K. government has taken its first tentative steps to ease some strict coronavirus lockdown measures and slowly begin to reopen society and the economy.
In a televised address to the nation, Johnson said this is “not the time, simply, to end the lockdown this week,” but that it was appropriate to make some changes, including encouraging people with jobs that cannot be done from home to return to work.
However, his plan of action lacked many details and raised a series of new questions, not least over potentially divergent approaches by the four constituent nations of the U.K. — England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. More details will be unveiled in Parliament on Monday.
Johnson said it would be “madness” to loosen restrictions so much that a second spike in cases emerges. The U.K. recorded as of Sunday almost 32,000 virus-related deaths, the most in Europe and the second-highest pandemic toll worldwide. Johnson said that without the lockdown, in place since March 23, half a million people may have lost their lives.
“We must continue to control the virus and save lives,” the prime minister said from an office at 10 Downing Street. “And yet we must also recognize that this campaign against the virus has come at colossal cost to our way of life.”
