“This is the biggest question people are asking, but there are no clear answers yet.”
Boris Johnson has tasked the government’s chief scientists with devising an “exit strategy” from the UK coronavirus lockdown — but ministers and experts have differing views on whether some restrictions should be lifted as soon as is feasibly possible or kept in place for months. Finding a workable balance is proving difficult, they warn.
One group of ministers and senior advisers is keen to release restrictions on the largest number of people as soon as is practically possible. Ministers have also received reports this week that companies have begun telling employees put on furlough that they will be laid off after three months. The government’s coronavirus job retention scheme allows firms to furlough staff for three months, with the state paying 80% of their salaries. But many companies have decided there is no way they will be able to keep them on afterwards, so are already giving them their notice, potentially leading to a huge spike in unemployment in the summer.
Downing Street said on Thursday that it was “looking at” the possibility of granting “immunity certificates” to those who have had the virus. However, some experts fear that even this proposal is unrealistic. Ministers have been warned that data from the early stages of the outbreak in China has shown that lifting social distancing measures prematurely could very quickly result in an even more dangerous second wave, as transmissions immediately pick up again.
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