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Brits could start work at 1pm or go into the office on weekends to avoid a rush-hour crush when lockdown measures are eventually eased.

Downing Street will reportedly ask businesses to introduce staggered start times for their employees to reduce the possible spread of coronavirus.

One option being touted would see the busy morning commute separated into three separate slots, with workers beginning their shifts at 7am, 10am and 1pm.

Bosses could also be asked to introduce weekend working or working alternate days instead of the typical Monday to Friday week.

A Cabinet source told the Sun : “We have to get the wheels of the economy turning again soon or there won’t be much left of it.

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“But life and work is going to look very different when it happens, whether it's staggered rush hours or going in every other day.”

The news comes as the UK government said it was planning for "new normal" once stringent lockdown restrictions were finally lifted.

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The measures are due to next be reviewed on May 7 and Health Secretary Matt Hancock, in an indication the lockdown will be eased then, said he was preparing to ramp up contact tracing on a "large scale" as a way of keeping the virus under control.

In the Commons on Tuesday, Mr Hancock said he was confident the country was at the peak of the outbreak but stressed that continued social distancing was currently needed to bring the number of new cases down.

(Image: AFP via Getty Images)

He also said a contact tracing app which will alert people if they have been in contact with somebody with the virus and should self-isolate was currently in trials.

He said: “We have to make sure we’ve got that evidence before we start touting around ideas.

“The minute we can responsibly do so based on the evidence, we will.”

Passenger numbers in London are down around 95% on the Tube and 85% on buses, cutting income from fares to a fraction of normal levels.

The capital's mayor said that TfL had lost hundreds of millions of pounds of revenue as a result of the measures.

(Image: PA)

Mr Khan said: "Unless the Government gives us a grant, we will not be able to continue to run the service we have."

Mr Khan's comments come after Andy Burnham and Steve Rotheram, the metro mayors for Greater Manchester and the Liverpool City Region respectively, called for Government funding to support city centre transport.

Mr Burnham said Manchester's Metrolink system may have to be suspended as it was losing millions of pounds a month.

Merseyrail, which operates in Liverpool and surrounding areas, was losing £1.2 million a week and was being reduced to a core service for essential workers, Mr Rotheram said.

Last month, the Department for Transport (DfT) suspended traditional rail franchise agreements to avoid train companies collapsing, but the metro mayors said the rail systems in their cities had not been given any support.

A DfT spokeswoman said: "We are aware of the challenges faced by transport operators, and continue to work closely with the sector and transport authorities to ensure passengers can make essential journeys."

The Department of Health said 18,100 patients had died in hospital after testing positive for coronavirus in the UK, as of 5pm on Tuesday, up by 763 from 17,337 the day before.