Citizens in the United Kingdom may live under COVID-19 restrictions throughout all of 2020, as the government’s top priority at the present time is to prevent a second wave of the deadly outbreak in the country, according to The Sun.
Senior Downing Street officials reportedly prefer following a “try it and see” strategy to see the best path out of the crisis. The plan was said to possibly take until autumn.
On Monday, a Downing Street spokesperson said that it is unlikely that lockdown measures will be eased “too quickly” in a bid to prevent a second peak of the outbreak in the UK.
“The big concern is a second peak. That is what ultimately will do the most damage to health and the most damage to the economy. If you move too quickly then the virus could begin to spread exponentially again,” the spokesperson said, quoted by Independent.
According to The Sun, Downing Street ministers excluded the word “exit” from lockdown planning, and instead now use the term “next phase” to refer to the period following 7 May. Some restrictions may gradually be lifted, depending on scientific data, and seeing what works.
“We will try a bit at a time, and then pause, so we can see what effect that has on the transmission rate. The pace will be very gradual,” one senior figure said, cited by The Sun.
Restrictions reportedly could be strengthened further in some parts of the country where the likelihood of the deadly pandemic spreading remains “alarmingly high”.
