The UK is likely to remain in lockdown until cases drop below 1,000 per day.
A senior Whitehall source told The Telegraph that it’s unlikely any significant relaxation of the rules will happen until confirmed COVID-19 cases are in their hundreds per day.
If positive cases continuing to drop at the current rate, less than 1,000 cases per day should be achieved by April – but that’s only if people continue to abide by the lockdown rules.
Speaking to the newspaper, the source said: “For any significant relaxation of lockdown, household mixing and reopening pubs, case numbers have to be in the hundreds, not thousands.
“The numbers are coming down quite fast, but the plan is likely to be high level and set out the tests that have to be met for restrictions to be released. There is real reluctance about committing to specific dates without knowing what the case numbers are doing.”
Prime Minister Boris Johnson previously stated that the relaxation of the rules would be “based firmly on a cautious and prudent approach”, meaning only small steps out of the lockdown are expected.
The reopening of pubs and restaurants, for example, are likely to be last on the list.
Mr Johnson is expected to reveal the roadmap out of the third lockdown on 22 February.
