London: The UK government has announced that the nationwide lockdown measures which were implemented on March 23 to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus, would be extended by three weeks due to a surge in the number of deaths and infections.
Another 861 coronavirus-related hospital deaths were recorded overnight in the UK, bringing the overall toll to 13,759 while the number of infections recorded so far has reached 104,146 since the outbreak began, reports Efe news.
“The worst thing we could do right now would be to ease up too soon,” Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, who is deputizing in the absence of Prime Minister Boris Johnson currently recovering from COVID-19, said in the daily government press conference on Thursday evening.
“The government has decided that the current measures must remain in place for the next three weeks,” he added.
The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) said it was important to ensure the transmission rate was below the level R1, that is one person infecting one other person on average, before the restrictions could be lifted.
“Overall we still don’t have the infections rate down as much as we need to,” Raab said, adding that lifting the lockdown measures too soon would risk a second spike in infections, which would in turn cause further damage to human lives and the economy.
“It would undo the progress we’ve made to date and, as a result, would require an even longer period of the more restrictive social distancing measures.”
The UK joins the likes of France and Spain in seeking extensions to nationwide lockdowns but contrasted with countries like Denmark and Austria, which have already begun gradually rolling back restrictions. (IANS)
