UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson will talk his cabinet through his plans for easing the country’s lockdown on Tuesday after officials reported the lowest number of daily deaths since restrictions were imposed.
Last month, PM Johnson had said that non-essential retailers would be able to reopen on June 15 if the threat of the virus continued to recede,
On Monday, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said that positive data means the government can press on with its plans.
“Coronavirus is in retreat across the land,” Hancock told the House of Commons as he reported 55 fatalities, the lowest daily number since March 22.
“Those downward trends mean that we can proceed with our plans, but we do so putting caution and safety first”, he further added.
Last Wednesday, PM Johnson came under fire from main opposition leader Keir Starmer over the government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The government acknowledged that some areas northern and southern England could see their transmission rates grow.
The labour minister has said that this was a critical week in the UK’s response to COVID-19 as lockdown measures were eased with many schools reopening.
Johnson, who is battling plunging poll ratings as he seeks to navigate a route to reopen the British economy while avoiding a second spike in infections, has been under pressure to accelerate the removal of restrictions that closed stores and businesses and stopped people spending time with their families and friends.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock on Friday said the government would consider isolated lockdowns in the case of a second wave of infections.
Spain and Canada have joined the UK in adopting the two-meter limit, but the World Health Organization recommends people should stay only a meter apart, the distance favored by China and France. Denmark cut its limit to one meter from two on May 10.
UK has reported 287,399 coronavirus cases so far, while 40,597 people have died from the deadly disease.
Meanwhile, the global tally of COVID-19 cases crossed 7 million and 402,241 people have died from the disease so far.