LONDON, May 31 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Another 215 COVID-19 patients died in Britain, as of Friday afternoon, bringing the total death toll in the country to 38,376, Culture Secretary, Oliver Dowden, said Saturday.
The figures include deaths in all settings, including hospitals, care homes and the wider community.
Chairing Saturday’s Downing Street daily briefing, Dowden said, Britons will be able to exercise outside with up to five others from different households from Monday, provided that strict social distancing guidelines are followed.
He also announced that from Monday, competitive sport will be allowed behind closed doors, paving the way for the return of live sports on TV screens in almost three months.
The move came as some experts warned that lifting restrictions is too “risky” before cases come down.
Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, England’s deputy chief medical officer, said, the consensus of the scientific advice so far is that, the government’s lock-down easing measures are consistent with keeping the R (infection rate) below 1, which refers to the average number of people that one infected person will pass the coronavirus on to.
“The consensus of the scientific advice is that, the next set of measures announced for Monday, with contract-tracing in place, should also keep the R below 1,” Van-Tam said.
However, he warned that Britons would need to follow the guidelines and not “tear the pants out of it.”
The public must be “sensible and proportionate with the freedom that we absolutely want to give them because we need to see loved ones.”
Britons need to “actually follow the guidance, don’t tear the pants out of it, and don’t go further than the guidance actually says,” he added.
The British government launched the country’s coronavirus test and trace system on Thursday as part of the efforts to contain the pandemic.
To break the chain of transmission, people in England, who have been in close contact with someone who has been infected with COVID-19, will be asked to isolate for 14 days, even if they have no symptoms.
