Prime Minister addresses the nation: latest information

The Prime Minister addressed the nation yesterday evening, and announced the first tentative steps towards easing the lockdown. The essential measures within the lockdown will remain in place for the next three weeks but, as the PM said, the government is “taking the first careful steps to modify our measures.” We understand from media interviews with Dominic Raab, the Foreign Secretary, that the new measures will come into force from Wednesday this week.

Here are the significant statements within the PM’s speech:

“And the first step is a change of emphasis that we hope that people will act on this week.

We said that you should work from home if you can, and only go to work if you must.

We now need to stress that anyone who can’t work from home, for instance those in construction or manufacturing, should be actively encouraged to go to work.

And we want it to be safe for you to get to work. So, you should avoid public transport if at all possible – because we must and will maintain social distancing, and capacity will therefore be limited.

So, work from home if you can, but you should go to work if you can’t work from home.

And to ensure you are safe at work we have been working to establish new guidance for employers to make workplaces COVID-secure.

And when you do go to work, if possible do so by car or even better by walking or bicycle. But just as with workplaces, public transport operators will also be following COVID-secure standards.

And from this Wednesday, we want to encourage people to take more and even unlimited amounts of outdoor exercise.

You can sit in the sun in your local park, you can drive to other destinations, you can even play sports but only with members of your own household.”

More information will be made available during this week.