PM sets out latest lockdown easing for England

The move to the next stage of the road map out of lockdown on May 17 came as the Covid-19 alert level in the UK was downgraded after a “consistent” fall in cases, hospital admissions and deaths.

The four chief medical officers of the UK have said the threat level should be reduced thanks to the success of the vaccination programme and social distancing restrictions.

Confirmation that England would move to step three on the road map came from Mr Johnson at a Downing Street press conference after a Cabinet meeting to sign off the change.

Addressing the public, he told the Downing Street press conference: “I want to thank you particularly because your efforts have so visibly paid off, giving us the time to vaccinate more than two thirds of all adults across the UK, with more than one third – nearly 18 million people – also receiving their second dose and thereby unquestionably saving many lives.

“And so it’s precisely because of your efforts that I can confirm today that we’ve met our four tests for further easing the lockdown in England.”

Mr Johnson added: “With deaths and hospitalisations at their lowest level since last July and the UK’s four chief medical officers today agreeing a reduction in the alert level, the data now support moving to step three in England from next Monday, May 17.”

Boris Johnson said England remains “on track” to end all legal restrictions on June 21 and said an update later this month would set out what role, “if any”, could be played by coronavirus health certificates and social distancing.

He told the Downing Street press conference: “This unlocking amounts to a very considerable step on the road map back to normality and I am confident we will be able to go further.

“Subject to the impact of step three on the data, we remain on track to move to step four on June 21.

“And to give business more time to prepare we will be saying more later this month about exactly what the world will look like and what role there could be – if any – for certification and social distancing.”

Mr Johnson said the Government will update its  guidance on close contact between friends and family on Monday.

The Prime Minister told a No 10 press conference that it would set out the risks involved so people could make their own choices.

“This doesn’t mean that we can suddenly throw caution to the winds. We all know that close contacts such as hugging is a direct way of transmitting this disease,” he said.

“So I urge you to think about the vulnerability of your loved ones.”

He said people should consider whether people had had the vaccine – and if so if they had had the second dose – and whether there has been time for it to take effect.

Boris Johnson has said people should continue to follow social distancing rules when not with family and friends.

He added: “We only have to look at the very sad situation in other countries to see the lethal potential of this virus  and we must continue to fight the spread of variants here in the UK.

“While we have no evidence yet to believe these variants are completely vaccine resistant, we must remain vigilant.”

England’s chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty said he is concerned about an increase from very low levels in the prevalence of the Indian variant.

He told the Downing Street press conference: “Most of them are currently relatively stable and not increasing at a great rate, the one that is slightly concerning in terms of increasing as a proportion is the variant which has been described from India.

“That does appear to be increasing but from very low levels over the last two weeks.”

Professor Whitty said the four tests had been met which enabled the next stage of lockdown easing to proceed.

He cautioned that it remains important to move forward “carefully and steadily”.

Of the vaccine rollout, he said it is clear the process has been “very successful” and added that there is “very clear data from real-world settings” showing the effectiveness of the vaccines in preventing hospital admissions and deaths.

Speaking about coronavirus variants, he said the variant first detected in India is one “we need to keep quite a close eye on”.

He said: “This is actually spreading from very small amounts but it is beginning to spread in certain parts of the country and we need to keep quite a close eye on this.

“So the point about this is: the threats are significantly reduced but there are still some residual issues that we need to keep a very close eye on and therefore we need to go carefully and steadily, as the Prime Minister has said.”

The biggest easing of lockdown measures so far is designed to encourage people to take more personal responsibility for managing the risks posed by the virus.

People will be given the choice on whether to remain two metres from family or friends, meaning they can once again hug and shake hands.

But officials suggested people should consider getting tested for coronavirus before hugging and wear face masks or ensure a room is well ventilated before ditching social distancing measures.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “What the public need to understand is that we are moving away from delivering a specific instruction on this point to advising the public that, because of the success of the vaccine rollout and the public abiding by the rules, we are at the point where everyone can use their own personal judgment.”

From May 17: – People will be able to meet outdoors in groups of up to 30.

– People will be able to meet indoors in groups of six, or two households.

– Pubs and restaurants will be able to serve customers indoors, although they will be limited to table service.

– Cinemas, museums, theatres and concert halls will be allowed to reopen although there will be capacity limits on large events.

– The “stay in the UK” restriction will lift and people will be able to travel to “green list” countries, such as Portugal although they are still being advised not to go to destinations on the amber list.

– Up to 30 people will be allowed at weddings, although dancing will still not be allowed, and the cap on the number of mourners attending funerals will be lifted, in line with the safe capacity of the venue.

– Secondary school pupils will no longer be told to wear face masks in class and communal areas.

The easing of restrictions came after the UK’s senior medics said the threat level should be lowered from “level 4” to “level 3”, means that the epidemic is in general circulation, but transmission of the virus is no longer deemed to be high or rising exponentially.

In a statement, the chief medical officers of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, said: “Following advice from the Joint Biosecurity Centre and in the light of the most recent data, the UK chief medical officers and NHS England national medical director agree that the UK alert level should move from level 4 to level 3.

“Thanks to the efforts of the UK public in social distancing and the impact we are starting to see from the vaccination programme, case numbers, deaths and Covid hospital pressures have fallen consistently.

“However, Covid is still circulating with people catching and spreading the virus every day so we all need to continue to be vigilant.

“This remains a major pandemic globally.

“It is very important that we all continue to follow the guidance closely and everyone gets both doses of the vaccine when they are offered it.”

The UK Covid-19 threat level has not been below level 3 since the start of the pandemic and the last time it was at this level was mid September 2020.

The threat level was raised to its highest level, level 5, on January 4 when officials raised concerns the NHS was at risk of being “overwhelmed”.