Road map for exiting coronavirus lockdown
A leaked draft has revealed more details of the shape of the next phase of coronavirus curbs - due to be unveiled by Boris Johnson on Sunday.
Key points include:
- Flexibility around the two metre 'social distancing' rule as long as firms are taking other steps to protect workers.
- Installing screens, strict hygiene procedures, and ensuring people are not close together very long are touted as alternative safeguards.
- Offices will be ordered to overhaul their rotas, staggering start, finish and break times.
- Hot desking will need to end and sharing equipment kept to an absolute minimum.
- Staff considered vulnerable who cannot work from home should be put in the 'safest possible roles'.
Businesses will not have to enforce two-metre 'social distancing' rules when coronavirus lockdown eases - as long as they can show they are keeping staff safe.
The shape of the 'road map' out of the crippling restrictions has started to emerge, with a leaked draft suggesting it will recognise that keeping gaps between workers is not always possible.
Instead companies will be advised they can take other precautions such as installing screens and imposing strict hygiene procedures.
Meanwhile, offices will be told to overhaul their rotas to minimise risks by staggering arrival, break and departure times, ending hot desking and avoiding sharing equipment.
Boris Johnson is expected to unveil the exit strategy in an address to the nation on Sunday, having delayed the announcement from Thursday as frantic work continues in Whitehall.
The complications have been underlined with unions threatening to block plans to get rail services up to 85 per cent of usual levels within a fortnight.
In a video posted on the Downing Street Twitter feed today, the PM warned that the 'worst thing' the country could do right now is 'ease up too soon' while there is still a threat of a 'second peak'.
But ministers have been under massive pressure to set out the way forward, with the draconian current curbs estimated to be costing the country £2billion a day.
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace told Sky News that that protective screens and ensuring people were not close together for very long could reduce the need for strict distancing.
'You can look at shielding, you can look at how long you stay near people. The two-metre rule reduces the possibility of infection by a certain amount of time,' he said.
'If you halve that it still keeps people away from being infected but for a lesser time. The probability of being infected is much less.
'I think there are options about how we can do it. You can wear PPE, that could be a possibility if you have to be in close proximity or indeed you could find other ways of doing it.'
He pointed towards supermarket workers working behind 'shields'.
Sir Jeremy Farrar, a SAGE member and head of the Wellcome Trust, said there was 'nothing magical' about the tw metre advice, and it was based on long-standing evidence about how far coughs and sneezes were likely to travel.
'There is nothing magical about two metres,' he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. 'Perhaps more importantly is the time you spend near someone else.'
In other developments in the coronavirus crisis
- Education Secretary Gavin Williamson announced a package of support worth almost £3billion to help universities weather the coronavirus crisis;
- A smartphone app to trace the spread of coronavirus will be trialled on the Isle of Wight this week before being rolled out more widely later this month;
- A new 'fast and accurate' coronavirus antibody test has been developed by scientists in Edinburgh, although the company fears the NHS could miss out amid interest in Europe for the machines;
- Heathrow Airport has warned travellers could face queues a kilometre long to board flights;
- SAGE member Jeremy Farrar has dismissed claims ministers tried to influence the group, as former chief scientific adviser Sir David King assembles an 'independent' rival group to plot a way out of the lockdown.
Boris Johnson (pictured arriving at Downing Street this morning) is expected to unveil the exit strategy in an address to the nation on Sunday, having delayed the announcement from Thursday as frantic work continues in Whitehall
The Tube was still busy today despite the strict lockdown rules in force - amid claims from unions that the government wants services back up to at least 85 per cent by May 18
The UK announced 315 new coronavirus deaths yesterday, bringing the total official fatalities to 28,446
In a video posted on the Downing Street Twitter feed today, the PM warned that the 'worst thing' the country could do right now is 'ease up too soon' while there is still a threat of a 'second peak'
Ministers 'in talks over immunity certificates for workers' amid hopes of antibody test
Ministers are in discussions over coronavirus 'immunity certificates' for workers amid rising hopes of an antibody test.
Paperwork that could show people are clear of the disease and unlikely to get it again could be deployed as part of efforts to get the economy up and running.
The plans emerged amid suggestions an accurate antibody test could start being rolled out across the UK within a fortnight.
Testing giant Roche Diagnostics says that it has created a kit that is accurate enough to be used at scale - and the firm says it has enough stock to provide hundreds of thousands to the NHS every week.
It comes after weeks of disappointments regarding antibody tests, which are designed to tell someone if they have contracted the virus in the past and indicate whether they may now be immune.
Roche claims its lab-based 'Elecsys' test can spot 100 per cent of people who have had the virus - with no 'false negatives' at all. The test is important because it gives the clearest possible picture of how widespread the coronavirus is in the UK.
If many more people have had the illness than currently believed, fears of a second peak will diminish.
Mr Wallace effectively confirmed the draft, a version of which has been leaked to the BBC and Financial Times.
It suggested vulnerable staff - such as those aged over 70, pregnant, with underlying health conditions or pregnant - should be put in the 'safest possible roles'.
The guidance is clear that anyone who can work from home should continue to do so - meaning many staff will be out of the office for months to come.
But the draft does not spell out what action should be taken on PPE - saying merely that more information will follow. Some businesses fear they might be open to legal action from staff if they loosen the rules without clear direction from the government.
Mr Wallace played down concerns that 'coronaphobia' could hamper efforts to get the economy running again, with polls showing significant numbers would be nervous about returning to work.
The Defence Secretary said: 'I strongly believe the public aren't stupid. They read advice, they listen to the media.
'They took on board the Government's advice... and I think they will be perfectly able to read the Government's next stage when we get to it.
'I'm totally confident when it comes to the next step we will all together be able to move forward.'
In a
Mr Johnson will describe the race to develop a coronavirus vaccine as the 'most urgent shared endeavour of our lifetimes' later as he calls on nations to 'pull together' in response to the pandemic.
The Prime Minister is expected to tell an online pledging conference - co-hosted by the UK and eight other countries and organisations - that the sooner states share their expertise the faster scientists will succeed in defeating the disease.
It comes as Mr Johnson revealed he feared he would not live to see his baby son Wilfred born when he battled Covid-19 in intensive care last month.
The PM will tell the conference, which aims to bring in more than £6.6billion in funding, that the race to develop a vaccine is 'not a competition between countries but the most urgent shared endeavour of our lifetimes'.
'It's humanity against the virus - we are in this together and together we will prevail,' he is expected to say.
Unions warn on plans to restore rail services
The country's three biggest rail unions have today written to Boris Johnson, warning that increasing train services will be 'dangerous and lead to the public flouting the rules.'
Union leaders have voiced 'severe concerns' over any moves to increase train services as part of the expected easing of the economic lockdown.
RMT’s Mick Lynch told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that ministers want to be running 85%-100% of services within a fortnight despite it not being ‘safe’.
The three main rail unions Aslef, RMT and TSSA, have now written to the Prime Minister warning that increasing services would send out a 'mixed message' that it is okay to travel by train, despite official advice suggesting otherwise.
Coronavirus has claimed more than 246,000 lives around the world, according to analysis by John Hopkins University.
A total of 28,446 people have died in hospitals, care homes and the wider community after testing positive for coronavirus in the UK as of 5pm on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the government is facing fresh pressure over testing, after the daily number slumped to 76,496 - below the 100,000 target.
Cabinet minister Michael Gove told the daily Downing Street press conference last night: 'Ultimately, unless and until we have a vaccine then I suspect that we are going to have to live with some degree of constraint because of the nature of the virus.
'But we obviously want to, wherever possible, and consistent with the measures on public health, restore people's lives to as close to normal as possible.'
He said the Government will pursue a 'phased approach' to removing lockdown restrictions rather than a sudden return to 'the old normal' - and that the easing had to be done in a 'cautious fashion'.
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace told Sky News that the two metre rule could be more flexible
Boris Johnson says the fear of never seeing his new son gave him the will to beat coronavirus
Boris Johnson has revealed that the fear of never seeing his newborn son drove him in his battle against coronavirus.
The Prime Minister, 55, spent a week in April at St Thomas's Hospital in London fighting the virus, including three days in intensive care, and admitted yesterday that doctors had prepared to announce his death.
Now, in an interview with the Sun, he has opened up further on his fight against the virus, saying he focused on 'positive thoughts' about pregnant fiancee Carrie Symonds and the impending birth of their child.
He said: 'We've all got a lot to live for, a lot to do, and I won't hide it from you, I was thinking about that, yes.'
His son, Wilfred Lawrie Nicholas Johnson, was born last Wednesday, just over two weeks after the Prime Minister was released from hospital.
Mr Johnson added in the interview that he was 'thrilled' with the birth and also described his hospital experience in greater detail.
Boris Johnson (pictured arriving back at Downing Street after the birth of his son) has admitted he thought about his unborn child as he battled coronavirus in intensive care
The PM said he focused on 'positive thoughts' about pregnant fiancee Carrie Symonds and the impending birth of their child (pictured is Ms Symonds with baby Wilfred)
A heart-warming caption revealed the boy's full name as Wilfred Lawrie Nicholas Johnson, with Lawrie a reference to Ms Symond's grandfather and Nicholas a tribute to the two doctors that 'saved Boris' life'
He said he jumped on his hospital bed wearing only his boxer shorts to 'clap like crazy' for the NHS – just two hours after leaving intensive care.
He added: 'It was a Thursday when I came out of ICU and with me I had a nurse called Becky and a nurse called, I think, Angel.
'I was just in my boxers, nothing else. We stood up and there was this big window looking out on the Thames and we saw the Met and the Fire Brigade do this display with their boats.
'It was just fantastic.'
He also praised the NHS staff who treated him at St Thomas' Hospital, saying they 'pulled my chestnuts out of the fire, no question'.
Speaking today, Donald Trump revealed that he and Mr Johnson had discussed the latter's battle with the virus.
He told Fox News: 'He [Mr Johnson] was a victim (of this thing). He thought it was all over.'
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