04 April 2020

Top government adviser says UK lockdown could be eased 'within weeks'

A top government adviser has said UK lockdown measures could be relaxed within weeks if the coronavirus epidemic is seen to be slowing.

Professor Neil Ferguson said this was contingent on people continuing to follow the current strict guidelines on social distancing.

Ferguson, of Imperial College London, told BBC Radio 4: "The critical thing first is to get case numbers down, and then I'm hopeful... in a few weeks' time we will be able to move to a regime which will not be normal life, let me emphasise that, but will be somewhat more relaxed in terms of social distancing and the economy, but relying more on testing."

The public have been told by Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Health Secretary Matt Hancock to resist the temptation of going outside during the warm weather this weekend.

And if people didn't follow the measures, Ferguson added: "That moves us to a slightly more pessimistic scenario.

"We still think things will plateau but we'll be at quite high levels of infection for weeks and weeks rather than seeing quite a rapid decline as the type seen in China."

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