The British government is extending its nationwide coronavirus lockdown for at least an additional three weeks, Foreign Minister Dominic Raab announced Thursday.

Raab said the government made the call to extend the lockdown after consulting with scientists and deciding the rate of infection has not fallen enough to pull back on the restrictions first announced March 23.

“Any change to our social-distancing measures now would risk a significant increase in the spread of the virus,” he said at the government’s daily press conference, according to CNBC. “That would threaten a second peak of the virus and substantially increase the number of deaths.”

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Raab has been deputized to fulfill the duties of Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who was diagnosed and hospitalized with the virus last month, entering intensive care before eventually stabilizing and being discharged. Johnson is recuperating at the prime minister’s country residence before returning to work.

British officials had previously said restrictions could not be lifted before the country hits its infection peak, although Chris Whitty, the United Kingdom's chief medical adviser, said Wednesday that the country is “probably reaching the peak.”

Great Britain's gross domestic product is likely to shrink up to 35 percent amid the lockdown between April and June, according to a report from the Office for Budget Responsibility, which made the calculation assuming a three-month shutdown and a three-month period of staggered reopening. Public health experts have warned in both the U.S. and U.K. that a return to the previous status quo will be gradual.

Several European nations have begun slowly easing quarantine measures, including Spain and Italy, two of the hardest-hit countries, as well as Germany, one of the least, where the government said some small businesses will be allowed to reopen April 20 and schools will reopen May 4. Large public gatherings will remain prohibited through Aug. 31.