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UK Government Says It's 'Too Early' To Think About Ending Lockdown

UK Government Says It's 'Too Early' To Think About Ending Lockdown

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has told the nation to keep following the government guidelines until the virus is under control

Rebecca Shepherd

Rebecca Shepherd

The UK government has said it's 'too early' to think about ending the coronavirus lockdown.

Charing today's briefing, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said: "We're not done yet. We must keep going." He then added: "While the early signs suggest they're [social distancing measures] having the impact, it's too early to say that conclusively."

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab held today's coronavirus press conference.
PA

He went on to apologise that people couldn't do what they wanted to, especially on the bank holiday weekend. He said: "We mustn't give the coronavirus a second chance to kill more people."

He went on: "Let's not ruin it now," before saying: "People need to think long and hard about what might happen to people on the front line of the NHS if they are considering going out this weekend."

According to Mr Raab the UK statistics reveal that 7,978 people have died as a result of Covid-19.

Information has been sent to all UK households regarding coronavirus.
PA

Outlining the plans going forward in a little more detail, he said: "Today I chaired a Cobra meeting with senior ministers, officials and representatives from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as well as the mayor of London so that we could take stock and assess where we are right across the United Kingdom.

"At this stage the government is continuing to gather all of the relevant data to obtain the fullest picture possible of the effects of the social distancing measures that we've put in place.

"While the early signs suggest that they're having the impact that we need to see, it's too early to say that conclusively. SAGE [the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies] will meet next week to discuss the latest evidence and we'll keep the measures we've put in place under review.

"As we've said on many occasions now, we'll be guided by the science at all times. We don't expect to be able to say more on this until the end of next week and let me just be very clear about this - the measures will have to stay in place until we've got the evidence that clearly shows we've moved beyond the peak."

Police are toughening up their social distancing enforcement.
PA

Speaking about the long weekend Mr Raab said: "I know these restrictions take their toll day in day out on people's livelihoods, on people's quality of life, on people's mental health and I appreciate that it's often the little things that hurt the most.

"With the Easter bank holiday coming up, I would usually spend it with my two boys, seven and five years old, with their grandparents doing an Easter egg hunt and I know there's going to be lots of people who would normally be planning a family get together or just going out in the sunshine with friends and loves ones.

"Unfortunately right now we just can't do those sorts of things, and I'm really sorry about that. But just take a moment to think of the progress we've already made. It's been almost three weeks and we're starting to see the impact of the sacrifices we've all made."

It's okay to not panic. LADbible and UNILAD's aim with our series, Cutting Through, is to provide our community with facts and stories from the people who are either qualified to comment or have experienced first-hand the situation we're facing. For more information from the World Health Organisation on coronavirus, click here.

Featured Image Credit: BBC

Topics: UK News, News, Coronavirus, UK