Current lockdown conditions in the UK mandate that workers should work from home if possible, and that people from different households who meet in public should stay two metres apart.

During a briefing on 21 May 2020, Health Secretary Matt Hancock indicated that it is possible that these conditions will be relaxed as the Government phases out the lockdown regulations.

We will move to step 2 on 1 June if we are able to do so. Step 2 involves reopening more things, like schools and some retail. And using our test and trace system to keep R down. We will only move to step 2, and then in due course to step 3, when it is safe to do so.

He further indicated that a total of three million tests have now been conducted in the UK, and that the number of those in hospital with coronavirus stands at 9543, a fall of 14% from the week before.

Hand hygiene, surface cleaning, wearing facemasks in public transport and shops, and social distancing remain the key pieces of advice to the public to slow the spread of the virus.

A seroepidemiological meanwhile has revealed that 17% of the population of London, and around 5% of the general population has already contracted the virus.

Finally, the Health Secretary made it clear that he wasn’t optimistic about whether a vaccine would be developed or be developed on time, but said that the UK would continue to spend public money in the hunt for one regardless.

You can read the full transcript here. 

Picture by Nickolay Romensky from London, UK – DSC05602, CC BY 2.0, Link.