'Too early' to ease lockdown, says Environment Secretary George Eustice

It is "too early" to ease social-distancing measures, Environment Secretary George Eustice said at the daily government briefing on the UK’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak.

The government is under pressure from senior Tories concerned by the damage the restrictions are doing to the economy.

Dominic Raab, who has been standing in for Prime Minister Boris Johnson as he recovers from coronavirus, said earlier the government would proceed “cautiously” in order to avoid a second peak in the outbreak.

Mr Eustice echoed his words on Sunday afternoon, warning it is important the government does not "act prematurely".

He said: "A week ago, we decided that it was to early to ease any of those social-distancing measures, it will be reviewed again in in a couple weeks' time.

"And that will be the right moment to consider the scientific evidence that we have, particularly the latest medical evidence.

"It's very important we don’t do this prematurely and risk a second peak. It's Very important that we see a consistent downward trend and sustainable reduction in the number of infections."

Mr Eustice added he is sure the prime minister will elaborate on the issue at some point in week ahead.

The death toll topped 20,000 on Saturday, less than a month after senior health officials said a total below 20,000 would be a “good result”.

Stephen Powis said the science will change over time. Credit: PA

Stephen Powis, national medical director of England, said their approach will need to evolve over time "because the science of what we know about the virus is developing all the time".

Certain "pieces of info we would love to have is not available", he added.

"One piece is how many people develop immunity and how long that immunity lasts and the truth of it is we won't know how long immunity lasts until we have got some way into this epidemic and we have been able to follow individuals in a serial way to see what happens to their antibody levels."

Dominic Raab has urged caution in easing the restrictions. Credit: PA

“We are at a delicate and dangerous stage,” Mr Raab told Sky News’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday programme earlier.

“We need to make sure that the next steps are sure-footed, which is why we are proceeding very cautiously and we are sticking to the scientific advice with the social-distancing measures at this time, whilst doing all the homework to make sure that we are prepared in due course for the next phase.”

Mr Eustice said that 669,850 Covid-19 tests had been carried out in the UK – including 29,058 tests carried out on Saturday.

He told a Downing Street briefing that some 152,840 people have tested positive – an increase of 4,463 cases since the day before.

“15,953 people are currently in hospital with the coronavirus in the UK, down from 16,411 on April 25,” he said.

“And sadly, of those hospitalised with the virus, 20,732 have now died, and that is an increase of 413 fatalities since yesterday.

“We express our deepest condolences to the families and friends of these victims.”