Brits warned not to sunbathe in parks over bank holiday or ‘modest and small’ new freedoms could be stopped

BRITS were told not to sunbathe in parks this bank holiday weekend or any new freedoms could be lost.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab last night announced the Government has extended the country’s seven-week coronavirus lockdown a second time.

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PM Boris Johnson is expected to announce on Sunday that some “modest and small” restrictions can be lifted from Monday when he lays out his landmark roadmap exit plan, his deputy Mr Raab added.

But that will only be possible if the R-rate of infection does not rise before then.

Any easing of measures could include being allowed to do unlimited exercise outdoors as well as picnics in parks. But Mr Raab issued a stern warning that if people abuse the slight easing of restrictions, it will be reversed.

He told the daily No 10 press briefing: “Our next steps will be sure-footed and sustainable.

“Any changes we make will be carefully monitored. If people don’t follow the new rules, or if we see that the R-level goes back up, we will tighten the restrictions again. We will always retain the option to do so.”

The PM’s official spokesman also pleaded with Brits to stick to the current restrictions, despite forecasts for a warm and sunny weekend.

He said: “The social distancing rules remain in place, and we ask people to still respect them.”

In other developments related to the lockdown yesterday:

• TENSIONS erupted between Downing Street and Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon after it emerged England could start easing restrictions earlier than Britain’s three other nations;
• MR Johnson told a meeting of the Cabinet that although easing could begin from Monday, “we will advance with maximum caution”;
• POLICE warned extra patrols will be laid on over the bank holiday weekend to enforce the full lockdown throughout.

Mr Raab also revealed the PM’s roadmap will set out a series of specific conditions that must first be met for each milestone point, from schools

returning to different sectors going back to work.

Government sources last night said that would mean a specific reduction in case numbers and deaths, as well as the R-rate never going above one — where one sufferer infects more than one other person.

Mr Raab also warned that the individual relaxations will take many weeks to roll out, as they will be “incremental and very carefully-monitored”.

He added: “The point at which we make even the smallest of changes to the current guidance will be a point of maximum risk.

“The virus is not beaten yet. It remains deadly and infectious.”

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Yesterday’s daily statistics revealed that while Britain was well past the peak, the damage the virus is still inflicting remains stubbornly high.

A further 539 deaths were recorded of people who had tested positive for coronavirus, and 5,614 new cases had been detected.

Across the country, the R rate has reduced to between 0.5 and 0.9, with London faring best.

But while the contagion is well down in the community, hospitals and care homes are still a point of serious concern, where it is climbing again.

Mr Johnson held a conference call with the First Ministers of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland yesterday in a bid to defuse a row over how fast to ease the lockdown.

It emerged yesterday that the R-rates in Scotland and Wales are higher than in England, meaning all the restrictions may need to stay in place longer.

Ms Sturgeon told the PM that she will not be cajoled into acting at the same time as him.

She said: “Let me be clear, if the Prime Minister decides he wants to move at a faster pace for England than I consider is right for Scotland, that is of course his right.

“I will not be pressured into lifting restrictions prematurely before I am as certain as I can be that we will not be risking a resurgence of infections rates.”

She also lashed out at Boris’s plan to drop his “Stay at Home” coronavirus campaign slogan now, saying that “could be a potential catastrophic mistake”.

Speculation on how lockdown measures may be lifted in England risks sending “mixed messages” to people in other parts of the UK, the Welsh Government also said.

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A YouGov survey revealed that only 50 per cent of Brits said they would put up with the lockdown lasting until August.

That compares with 82 per cent who said they would find it easy to cope with it until June.

Meanwhile, an Ipsos Mori poll found that 61 per cent of women are struggling to stay positive, compared with 47 per cent of men.

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