Coronavirus: lockdown could ease by ‘end of May’ if public follow distancing rules

This morning, Prof Neil Ferguson, from Imperial College London and author of a report which warned of mass deaths if the UK did not introduce strict controls, said the lockdown could be relaxed in weeks – but only if Britons abide by physical distancing restrictions in the meantime.

He said a high level of coronavirus infections could last for “weeks” if people broke physical distancing rules this weekend.

He told BBC Radio 4 that the epidemic was expected to plateau in the next week to 10 days.