Boris Johnson says lockdown can be eased from Monday and schools will reopen after five tests met

Boris Johnson has said the coronavirus lockdown will be eased and schools will reopen from Monday.

The Prime Minister said all five of the Government’s tests for easing the lockdown are now being met, so adjustments can begin being made in England on Monday.

From Monday, groups of up to six people from different households can meet in gardens and private outdoor spaces provided they "continue to stick to social distancing rules” by staying two metres apart.

But they will not be allowed to stay overnight, or go indoors other than to gain access to a garden.

Mr Johnson told the daily Downing Street press conference: “I cannot and will not throw away all the gains we’ve made together and so the changes we’re making are limited and cautious.

“It’s thanks to the caution you’ve shown so far that all five met are being met.

“The result is that we can move forward with adjusting the lockdown in England on Monday.”

Schools

The Prime Minister said: "First, as I set out on Sunday, we will now reopen schools to more children.

"Closing schools has deprived children of their education, and, as so often, it is the most disadvantaged pupils who risk being hardest hit.

“On Monday we will start to put this right in a safe way by reopening nurseries and other early-years settings and reception year one and year six in primary schools.”

He added, from June 15, secondary schools will begin to provide “some face to face contact time” for years 10 and 12.

“We will also start to reopen shops as we start to reopen our economy,” he said.

Meeting other households

Mr Johnson said people should “try to avoid seeing too many households in quick succession so we can avoid the risk of quick transmission from lots of different families and continue to control the virus”.

He added: “It remains the case that people should not be inside the homes of their friends and families, unless it is to access the garden.

“I should add that, at this stage, I am afraid that those who have been asked to shield themselves should continue to do so.”

Mr Johnson said the Government is “looking carefully at how we can make your life easier”, adding: “We want to say more on that soon.”

The PM said guidance on the changes will be published, adding: “Inevitably there may be some anomalies, or apparent inconsistencies, in these rules – and clearly what we’re proposing is still just a fraction of the social interaction each of us would normally enjoy.

“I know many of you will find this frustrating and I am sorry about that. But I’m afraid it is unavoidable, given the nature of the invisible enemy we are fighting.”

Five tests

Mr Johnson set out at the press conference how his five tests for easing the lockdown had been met.

He said the “heroic efforts” of NHS workers and the public mean that the first test of protecting the NHS’s ability to cope has been met, with 475 admissions in Covid-19 in England on May 26.

A “sustained and consistent fall in the daily death rate” has been witnessed, meaning the second test has been met, he said.

The Government is satisfied the third test has been met because the rate of infection is “decreasing to manageable levels across the board” with an average of 2,312 new cases being confirmed in the last seven days, he said.

He said test four has been met by signing new contracts for protective equipment and boosting testing capacity to 161,214 a day.

On the final test, the PM said that the adjustments have been crafted to not risk a second peak that would overwhelm the NHS.

“This package has been carefully designed so we can ease the burdens of the lockdown while expecting to keep that R below one,” he said.

Also at Thursday's briefing:

• Mr Johnson said he intends to “draw a line” under the Dominic Cummings controversy and refused to allow advisers Professor Chris Whitty and Sir Patrick Vallance to answer questions on the row to “protect them” from a “political argument”.

• Chief medical adviser Prof Whitty said it is hoped that “relatively soon” the number of infections will be low enough to start letting shielded people leave home.

• Mr Johnson said shops will be allowed to reopen "as we restart our economy". He said: "We will begin on Monday with outdoor retail and car showrooms where social distancing is generally easier. And, a fortnight later, on the 15th of June, we intend to reopen other non-essential retail.”

• The PM said people who lose income as a result of local lockdowns “will be helped”.

Chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick insisted that things need to be done cautiously.

He said: “The number of new infections is estimated to be roughly one in a thousand per week, it means that 54,000 new cases are occurring every week, so somewhere around eight or so thousand per day.

“That is not a low number, so it’s worth remembering that we still have a significant burden of infection, we are still seeing new infections every day at quite a significant rate and the R is close to one.

“That means there is not a lot of room to do things and things need to be done cautiously, step-by-step and monitored and the Test and Trace system needs to be effective in order to manage that.”

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