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Oliver Dowden, the UK’s secretary of culture, suggested that the public should prepare for an extension of the current three-week coronavirus blockade that ends on Monday.
The review of the current measures promised by Boris Johnson is expected to wrap up next week, but intense ministerial discussions are taking place on how Britain can gradually ease the restrictions.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, who is replacing Johnson while the prime minister is in intensive care, will chair a virtual meeting of the government’s emergency planning committee (Cobra) on Thursday afternoon.
However, Dowden said a final decision would not be made during the Cobra meeting and that the public should expect an announcement next week.
Instead, the government will launch a public awareness campaign today urging the public to “stay home” over the Easter weekend, which includes bank holidays on Fridays and Mondays.
Dowden also warned Thursday that the closure measures were unlikely to ease, as “we are only just beginning to see this strategy begin to work.”
He told BBC Breakfast TV: “I don’t think these measures are very likely to change as they are only just beginning to take effect, but as we said, we would review them.” It is prudent that we review them continuously after three weeks. “
The prime minister’s condition is said to be “improving” as he continues to receive treatment for the coronavirus. He is now “sitting on the bed” in intensive care, the minister said.
Dowden told BBC Radio 4 Today program: “He is in a stable condition, appears to be doing reasonably well, was sitting and interacting with medical staff.
“But we have a well-established mechanism for the first [secretary of state] Dominic Raab will take the place of Prime Minister in the chairmanship of such meetings; Cobra will preside and preside over the relevant decisions. This is about going through a proper process, that’s why we’re looking forward to next week. “
The latest figures for the United Kingdom showed that 7,097 patients had died in the hospital after testing positive for coronavirus at 5 p.m. Tuesday, an increase of 938 from the previous day, the largest daily increase so far.
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Tensions have arisen over how long to impose blockade measures between the Health Department, which wants to protect lives at all costs, and the economic departments led by the Treasury Department and businesses, which are exploring ways to ease the blockade while minimizing the pressure on the National Health Service.
This afternoon’s Cobra meeting will be attended by the leaders of Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, as well as the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan.
Scottish Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon told Sky News that she did not believe there was “any chance that these lock gauges would be lifted immediately or imminently.”
Vaughan Gething, the Welsh health minister, also suggested on Thursday that there was “zero prospect” of the closure being eased in the coming days and said he expected the measures to remain in place across the UK for “several weeks”.
He told the BBC: “With the scientific group on emergencies advising all four governments across the UK, there is virtually no prospect that their advice is that it is safe and appropriate to remove the blockade measures now.”
