No chance of lifting coronavirus lockdown after initial three weeks, Government admits

The Government has admitted that it does not intend to lift the nationwide coronavirus lockdown imminently after the initial three week period.

Downing Street confirmed that the review of isolation measures would not go ahead on the scheduled date this Monday and said it would instead take place after the three-week mark.

Speaking at the daily Covid-19 press conference on Tuesday, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said the worst thing the country could do was “take its foot off the peddle” in terms of social distancing.

It comes after Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the strict measures would be reviewed in "three weeks" after first introducing them last month.

Asked whether the Government had decided to extend the lockdown, Mr Raab said: “In terms of the review, we are not at that stage yet.

“We will take any decision when the time is right, based on the facts and the scientific and medical advice.

“Our number one and overriding focus right now is on conveying the key message which is that everyone needs to keep adhering to this guidance.

“There is a long Easter bank holiday weekend coming up, warm weather and we understand people are making big sacrifices to follow this guidance.

“It is helping, it is contributing to our ability to tackle the coronavirus. The worst thing now would be to take our foot off the peddle, to ease up on that and risk losing the gains that have been made.

“It is absolutely critical that people keep up that discipline and the vast majority will. We hope everyone will follow that example.”

Pressed again on whether the Government will announce if lockdown measures will continue beyond next week, Mr Raab said: “The critical thing is to take evidence-based decisions and so we’ve said that we will take any review once we’ve got the evidence that the measures are working.

"And having the kind of impact taking past the peak which means that they can be responsibly done. We’re not at that stage yet.”

Chief Medical Officer Professor Chis Whitty also weighed in to stress the importance of being confident that the country is "beyond the peak" of the epidemic.

He said the Government could then "start making it clear what combination of things and over what period of time seems a sensible combination to take us through.

“Because as I said yesterday there are a large number of different things we need to take into account here in terms of the impact on health.

“The direct effects of the virus itself and also the indirect effects on the health service more widely.”