U.K. Won’t Be Back to Normal Soon as Government Readies Guidance

(Bloomberg) --

The U.K. will take a gradual path out of the coronavirus lockdown even though the government will soon publish guidance on how to return to work, a minister said.

“It's definitely not going to be business as usual, but we do want to make sure that people understand where the route map lies,” Transport Minister Grant Shapps said on Sky News on Sunday.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson is preparing to give advice on different activities, including working outdoors or inside someone else's home, a report said Saturday. He will also say whether employees need to wear protective equipment and how transport should be used.

The coronavirus pandemic has brought economic activity to a halt all over the world. The U.K. has reported more than 28,000 deaths linked to the virus, second only to the U.S. and Italy. Two-thirds of Britons opposes lifting the lockdown now, a poll in the Observer showed.

Nevertheless, the rate of infections is now past the initial peak, said Ian Diamond, the nation's chief statistician. He wouldn't say whether the U.K. was doing poorly in fighting the disease because international comparisons are “an unbelievably difficult thing to do.”

The government's response has been criticized as slow and not transparent enough. The U.K.'s former chief scientific adviser is setting up a group to counter advice from government's current advisers, the Sunday Times reported.

Separately, the Times cited the British Medical Association as saying that older people shouldn't be held under lockdown longer than others. Those considered especially vulnerable to the disease, including people over 70 years old, have been advised by authorities to stay indoors for another 12 weeks.

The BMA also published a survey showing that half of U.K. doctors have had to buy their own protective gear.

Johnson, who's now leading the plans to reopen the country, was himself hospitalized with the coronavirus and nearly died, he said in the Sun newspaper. The prime minister has set forth five tests for ending the restrictions on travel, work and socializing, including that there's no risk of a second spike in cases.

Primary schools could start reopening on June 1, the Sunday Telegraph reported. Johnson will give his next three-weekly review of the lockdown on May 7.