Life in the UK will not go straight back to normal when coronavirus lockdown measures are eased, the health secretary has said.

Matt Hancock warned it will "take time" for the enforced social distancing measures to be fully phased out.

He suggested the government will later announce an extension to the three-week emergency "stay-at-home" rules in a bid to suppress the COVID-19 outbreak, which has already seen at least 12,868 people die.

Image: The initial lockdown was set to last three weeks

Cabinet ministers were briefed on the latest scientific and medical advice via video conference, before a special meeting of the government's emergency committee known as COBRA this afternoon - chaired by stand-in prime minister Dominic Raab.

The foreign secretary, who is deputising for Boris Johnson while he recovers from coronavirus in the countryside retreat of Chequers, is expected to announce the lockdown extension at this afternoon's daily news conference.


Image: Dominic Raab is deputising for the PM while he recovers from COVID-19

Questions of when the lockdown might end were raised by a health minister, Nadine Dorries, on Wednesday night.

She tweeted: "There is only one way we can 'exit' full lockdown and that is when we have a vaccine. Until then, we need to find ways we can adapt society and strike a balance between the health of the nation and our economy."

Responding to the comment, Mr Hancock told Sky News' Kay Burley@Breakfast: "The key word in that is full - she was being quite precise, I think.

"It is too early to say now that we should remove the measures.

Image: People have been urged to stay at home to stop coronavirus spreading

"People can see that while we may be reaching a peak the numbers aren't coming down yet.

"The point Nadine was making is we will not be returning to some, just straight back to how things were before. This will take time."

Professor Neil Ferguson - of Imperial College London, which is advising the government on its coronavirus response - echoed the warning.

"We will have to maintain some form of social distancing, a significant level of social distancing, probably indefinitely until we have a vaccine available," he told BBC Radio 4.

He suggested that like Brexit the government could set up a specific department to deal with the "national emergency".

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Downing Street dismissed the idea, the prime minister's spokesman telling journalists "the entire focus of government is on the response to the coronavirus".

He also confirmed a formal review will be launched into why people from a black and minority ethnic background appear to be disproportionately affected by COVID-19.

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Mr Hancock also said 15% of care homes in England have seen an outbreak of coronavirus, after Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon confirmed 40% have there.

The government has promised that everyone in care homes who needs a COVID-19 test will get one, after the NHS Confederation chief executive said fatalities were going "under the radar" because daily figures only count hospital patient deaths.

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Mr Hancock said 10,000 care home residents have been tested and 4,000 workers in them have been referred for tests.

He added the reason there were thousands of unused tests over the Easter weekend was fewer people than expected turned up at the new drive-through test centres.

Image: Prof Neil Ferguson said measures will probably continue 'until we have a vaccine'

The latest figures from the UK Department of Health showed 11,170 people were tested in a day - despite it saying on 18 March that within four weeks tests would increase to 25,000 a day.

Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer has said he will support a lockdown extension but is calling on the government to publish its exit strategy to ensure "transparency" and maintain public confidence.

Image: More than 12,000 coronavirus patients have died in UK hospitals

Asked why the UK was not doing so like countries including Germany and Italy, Mr Hancock said yesterday: "Different countries are in different stages in this epidemic.

"And one of the things that I think we have learnt during this crisis is that the clarity of the guidance to the public is incredibly important and hence we repeat it."

Jon Ashworth, the shadow health secretary, said the public needs "greater clarity" on the exit strategy soon as a vaccine could take up to 18 months.

"If you want to return to some greater degree of normality then you need to combine it with a proper testing and tracing strategy," he told Sky News.