UK lockdown will last ‘significant’ period, government says

The British government admits that the coronavirus lockdown could last a “significant” time as a leading expert warns it could be in place until June.

“I can’t make an accurate prediction but everyone I think does have to prepare for a significant period when these measures are still in place,” cabinet minister Michael Gove tells the BBC.

Britons have been told to stay inside wherever possible to limit the spread of COVID-19, joining millions of people on lockdown worldwide.

The measure was introduced amid warnings that infection rates were spiraling, and new figures on Sunday reveal that 1,228 people with coronavirus have now died in Britain.

This is an increase of 209 on the day before. A total of 127,737 have been tested so far, of whom 19,522 people were found to have coronavirus.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is infected, initially said the shutdown would be for three weeks.

Professor Neil Ferguson of Imperial College London, one of the epidemiologists advising the government, tells the Sunday Times the lockdown could last months.

“We’re going to have to keep these measures in place, in my view, for a significant period of time — probably until the end of May, maybe even early June. May is optimistic,” he says.

— AFP