Boris Johnson set to ease coronavirus lockdown restrictions tonight
Boris Johnson is expected to announce an easing of the UK’s coronavirus lockdown tonight as the government implements a new five-tier warning rating.
It is expected that the Prime Minister will announce that, from next week, people will be allowed to exercise more than once a day and sunbathe as long as two metres distance is kept between people.
Garden centres and some workplaces are also set to re-open as part of the gradual easing of the lockdown.
Johnson will unveil a new slogan to replace the “stay at home, protect the NHS, save lives” mantra the government has pushed since the start of the lockdown.
The government will now tell people to “stay alert, control the virus and save lives”, according to the Sunday Telegraph.
There will also be a new five-tier warning system, similar to the terror alert level, with one a green-level warning and five a red-level warning.
Johnson will tell the nation during his address tonight that the nation is at level four, but approaching level three.
Housing secretary Robert Jenrick was asked this morning on Sky News if the new slogan was “too woolly” and vague for people to follow.
“The message that the public have adhered to very well for the last few weeks of staying at home, now does need to be updated,” he said.
“We need to have a broader message because we want to slowly and cautiously restart the economy and the country…we want now to have a message which encourages people to go to work, as we begin to ease some of the lockdown measures to take advantage of those but always to be cautious.”
Johnson is also expected to announce tonight two new added restrictions, according to the Sunday Times.
People will be told to wear face masks or face coverings on public transport and in shops, but they will not be compulsory.
A minister told the Times: “We do not want people going out and buying surgical masks. They are for clinical settings. A face covering can be a scarf, a bandana, handkerchief. You could even make your own.”
The second new restriction is that people entering the UK from overseas will be forced to self-isolate for 14 days.
People not able to do this will be put up in a hotel near the airport by the government.