Businesses are being discreetly advised by ministers on how to get people back to work in the coming days and weeks amid growing concerns over the economic impact of the lockdown.

The Government believes there is plenty of room within the existing restrictions for more people to be working, and is now actively encouraging firms to reopen.

British Steel, house builder Persimmon and McDonalds are among the latest in a growing number of firms announcing that they are reopening despite the lockdown.

It came as the chief medical officer said there was now “scope for manoeuvre” to ease some restrictions in the near future because the transmission rate of the virus is now within a manageable range.

Scientific advisers have told ministers that Britain should be in a position to start lifting the lockdown by mid-May, with a team of experts compiling a detailed report on the issue for Boris Johnson when he returns to work next week.

Ministers are already making plans for garden centres, car dealerships and other retailers where social distancing can be maintained, to reopen during the first phase of a gradual exit from lockdown.

New data shows that increasing numbers of people are venturing out to shops, parks and workplaces as the nation grows tired of staying at home.

Although there has been no change in the rules on working from home where possible, or on social distancing, the subtle change in official attitudes towards people going back to work paves the way for Mr Johnson to start shifting public opinion in favour of the lockdown being eased.

Ministers are sensitive to the need to “take the public with us” when they change the current policy, in the same way that they did when the lockdown was first imposed.

Ministers believe many firms have over-interpreted the social distancing rules and closed down unnecessarily, and Alok Sharma, the Business Secretary, has now been tasked with devising a strategy for each sector of the economy to get people back to work without putting public health at risk.