There are indications that the measures we have put in place have been successful in slowing down the spread of the virus.

But, Sage also say that it is a mixed and inconsistent picture and, in some settings, infections are still likely to be increasing.

Sage assess that the rate of infection, or the R value, is almost certainly below 1 in the community.

That means that on average each infected person is, in turn, infecting less than one other person

But, overall, we still don’t have the infection rate down as far as we need to.

As in other countries, we have issues with the virus spreading in some hospitals and care homes.

In sum, the very clear advice we have received is that any change to our social distancing measures now would risk a significant increase in the spread of the virus.

That would threaten a second peak of the virus, and substantially increase the number of deaths.

It would undo the progress made to date, and as a result, would require an even longer period of the more restrictive social distancing measures.