There are ‘some positive signs’ but don’t expect anything to change, the foreign secretary said on Monday (Picture: 10 Downing Street/PA)

Dominic Raab has told the British public to not expect any changes to UK lockdown rules this week as ‘we are not past the peak of the virus’.

At a Downing Street briefing today, the foreign secretary announced there are ‘some positive signs that we are starting to win’ the battle against Covid-19.

However, he said the government would not ease restrictions until they knew it was safe to do so, as the virus would ‘take full advantage’ and ‘kill more people’.

The UK is entering its fourth week of lockdown, with ministers set to review by Thursday whether social distancing measures can be changed.


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A police car patrols St James Park, Central London (Picture: EPA)

A policeman wearing a protective face mask talks to a man on Primrose Hill in London (Picture: Reuters)

Mr Raab said: ‘This week, SAGE will review the evidence of the effectiveness of the social distancing measures that we’ve taken and we will consider their assessment, based on the evidence at that point.



‘I should say, we don’t expect to make any changes to the measures currently in place at that point, and we won’t until we are confident – as confident as we realistically can be – that any such changes can be safely made.’

He continued: ‘There are some positive signs from the data that we are starting to win this struggle. But we’ve still got a long way to go.

‘We are still not past the peak of this virus. So please continue to follow the advice, now more than ever, to stay home save lives and protect our NHS.’

It comes as another 717 people die after contracting Covid-19, taking the UK hospital death toll to 11,329.

The daily hospital death toll has been decreasing since Friday when a record number of 980 people died.

The foreign secretary said this afternoon that the country had ‘come too far, lost too many loved ones, sacrificed too much to give up now’.

Two dog walkers on the beach in Broadstairs, Kent, during Easter Bank Holiday Monday as the UK continues in lockdown (Picture: PA)

A nearly empty Dartmouth Crossing bridge in Thurrock during Easter Bank Holiday Monday (Picture: PA)

He said: ‘If we let up now, the virus will only take full advantage. It will spread faster and kill more people.

‘If we keep up this incredible team effort, we will beat this virus and come through this national test.’

Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has also warned there is ‘no likelihood or prospect’ of measures being lifted after the Easter weekend.

The country’s lockdown is likely to continue ‘for some weeks to come’, she said.

A professor of medicine has argued the lockdown should start coming to an end on April 27 so the UK can ‘get back to work’.

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