Coronavirus lockdown: UK 'should not expect big changes' - BBC News
The PM will set out a "cautious" road map for the UK in his speech on Sunday, a cabinet minister says.
People should not expect big changes to the coronavirus lockdown in Boris Johnson's speech to the nation on Sunday, a cabinet minister has said.

Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden told BBC Breakfast the speech would set out a "cautious" road map for the UK, rather than immediate alterations.

Wales announced "modest" changes to its lockdown from Monday, which will allow people to exercise outside more often.

Meanwhile, a six-week-old baby with coronavirus died in England.

The NHS said the baby had an underlying health condition and died on 3 May at an undisclosed hospital.

The most recent figures from Thursday show the total number of people who have died with coronavirus in hospitals, care homes and the wider community in the UK is 30,615 - a daily increase of 539.

Announcing the plans for Wales' lockdown, First Minister Mark Drakeford said he wanted Wales to "move in step with the other nations of the United Kingdom".

The new measures will allow people to exercise outside more than once a day, while some garden centres and recycling centres will reopen.

Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said on Friday the only change she was considering in the immediate term was to outdoor exercise.

Mr Dowden said the PM's speech, at 19:00 BST on Sunday, would cautiously begin to look to the future, with limited amendments to restrictions to begin with.

"On Sunday, what the prime minister will do is set out the road map ahead," he said.

"So we can start to look to the future, but we'll have to do so in a very tentative and cautious way. People should not expect big changes from the prime minister on Sunday.

"But what they should expect, and this is what people have been asking for some time, tell us where we're going. Give us a road map ahead. And that is what the prime minister will do."

He added: "The worst thing that could happen is that after the huge effort we've all put in… we don't want to have a second peak that overwhelms the NHS."

Newspapers reported UK government sources saying some lockdown measures will be lifted as early as Monday and the BBC's political editor Laura Kuennsberg reported the "stay at home" slogan is on the way out.

Mr Johnson had also said in the Commons on Wednesday he wanted to possibly "get going" with some measures to ease lockdown on Monday.

But BBC Newsnight's political editor Nicholas Watt said the government "had a wobble" after Mr Johnson "gave the impression to some people that more significant changes were on the way".

And the Welsh and Scottish governments suggested No 10 had sent "mixed messages" about the lockdown.

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have the power to make their own decisions on lockdown regulations:

No 10 has said Mr Johnson is in favour of a UK-wide approach, even if different parts begin to move at slightly different speeds based on the evidence for each nation.

Mr Johnson says the UK government will act with "maximum caution" when beginning to ease the lockdown

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told Thursday's No 10 briefing the virus' reproduction value - known as the R number - was between 0.5 and 0.9. UK public health bodies want the R number to stay below one.

John Edmunds, professor of infectious disease modelling at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, told MPs he believed the R number had risen in the past two weeks, despite the lockdown.

He said latest estimates put it currently between 0.75 and one.

Office for National Statistics chief Sir Ian Diamond Thursday's briefing the assessment that the number had risen was driven by the spread in care homes.

"That gives us a real challenge to reduce the epidemic in care homes and it's one that I think - over the next few weeks from what I see happening - will happen," Sir Ian said.

Socially distanced residents in Northampton take part in the seventh Clap for Carers

Met Police officers patrol Westminster Bridge, after crowds congregated there during the weekly clap

North of England ballroom champions Roman Sukhomlyn and India Phillips obey the lockdown and practise at home

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