Britain’s coronavirus lockdown will continue for at least three more weeks with the pandemic peak still days away.

Stand-in PM Dominic Raab is set to announce on Thursday that the country’s restrictions will stay in place until at least May 7.

Raab said the UK was “still not past the peak of this virus” as he warned of a “long way to go” in the battle against Covid-19.

Chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Valance also braced the nation for a “difficult” week of death figures ahead before they expect the fatality rate to begin to slow.
But he said that plateau in coronavirus deaths is likely to last for two to three weeks before we see a fall.

Raab is set to ask Scotland’s First minister Nicola Sturgeon and leaders from Wales and Northern Ireland to attend a Cobra meeting to ensure there is a UK-wide agreement on the lockdown.

But senior ministers are split on whether to encourage some people who cannot work from home to return to their places of employment, The Times reports.

Some within the government have been shocked at the number of people using Number 10’s furlough scheme which is costing billions and risks severely damaging the UK economy.

But others such as Health Secretary Matt Hancock are reportedly against the idea of encouraging people to return to work as they believe it would undermine the “stay at home” message.

Yesterday Britain’s daily death toll fell for the second day with another 717 passing away from the horrific respiratory illness.

It came as the number of coronavirus cases worldwide has passed two million, according to a tally from Johns Hopkins University in the US.

But scientists have warned that the country will likely endure the peak of the pandemic next week.

Source: Agenceis