A TOTAL lifting of lockdown at Easter would have led to 91,000 extra deaths in a ferocious third wave of covid.
Boris Johnson was warned of the consequences of lifting lockdown too quickly by the Government’s SAGE advisers, forcing him to make tweaks to the roadmap plan he unveiled yesterday.
As a result, Brits will be able to meet in a rule of six outdoors at Easter, with non-essential shops still closed until later in April and some limits in place on the size of gatherings for four months until June 21.
The Prime Minister’s “cautious but irreversible” plan was unveiled yesterday, with the first steps being schools returning on March 8 and the option to see one friend for a picnic outdoors from that same date.
Assuming all goes well with that easing, the next significant milestone will be March 29 when schools go on Easter Holiday and the rule of six is introduced, reuniting friends and family for the first time in months.
Beyond that, there are three additional steps (full details of which are found in the live blog below) gradually easing lockdown measures over the spring and early summer before the UK returns to normal on June 21.
But the PM made clear that for each step to be taken, benchmark numbers will need to be met on Covid cases, hospital admissions, vaccinations and deaths.
Follow our live blog below for the very latest on the UK ‘s path out of lockdown…
