Boris Johnson has said he will be focusing on data and not dates when it comes to the easing of England’s coronavirus lockdown.
The prime minister said Professor Dame Angela McLean was “absolutely right” to tell a committee of MPs earlier that the relaxing of COVID-19 restrictions should hinge upon “data, not dates”.
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Mr Johnson said his “roadmap” out of lockdown, which he will unveil on Monday, will be based “firmly on a cautious and prudent approach” that ensures the unlocking will be “irreversible”.
“We want to be going one way from now on,” the PM added.
Mr Johnson said the easing would be done in “stages” and stressed: “We need to go cautiously.”
Asked about the reopening of hospitality venues, the PM said: “You have to remember from last year that we opened up hospitality fully as one of the last things that we did because there is obviously an extra risk of transmission from hospitality.
“I know there’s a lot of understandable speculation in the papers and people coming up with theories about what we’re going to do, what we’re going to say, and about the rates of infection, and so on.
“I would just advise everybody just wait, we’ll try and say as much as we can on that.”
