“We’re not done yet – we must keep going”

By Gareth Jones, Associate Partner

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab spoke at today’s government press conference, where he said that it was too early to lift the lockdown and the public should “stay home this bank holiday weekend to keep everybody safe.”

He said that the government is continuing to gather data on the effects of social distancing measures and noted that it was too early to say how long these measures could stay in place. Raab stated that we haven’t yet reached the peak of the virus and until we have received evidence that clearly shows we’re beyond the peak, the current measures would not be relaxed. Raab said that he recognised the sacrifices that people had made, but we must stick to the plan and be guided by the science. He added that the measures would remain under review, but the government would say no more on this until the end of next week.

This came as the UK coronavirus death toll had reached 7,984, with 887 in the past 24 hours. Sir Patrick Vallance says the measures in place are preventing an acceleration in the number of cases. He noted that we’re beginning to see the first signs of levelling off in the number of hospital admissions, but it was too early to tell how this would impact on the number of deaths.

Providing an update on the status of the Prime Minister, Dominic Raab said that he had had a good night and continues to improve in intensive care at St Thomas' Hospital.