Roadmap out of lockdown (but it'll take until July): Blueprint for UK's pubs, restaurants and hotels would see curbs eased at four-weekly intervals starting with 'limited' Easter holidays
- Gradual approach means traders will have to wait until Easter for a limited restart
- Pubs, bars and restaurants will have to wait until early May under the new outline
- A maximum of just two households allowed to sit together indoors and rule of six
- The government is set to unveil another slogan - 'Are you ready? Get testing. GoLeisure businesses may not return to 'broadly normal' until July under a roadmap out of lockdown.
The blueprint being discussed by ministers and industry leaders would allow restrictions to be eased only at four-weekly intervals.This is likely to include the reopening of holiday lets and larger hotels, with dining rooms still closed. Sports such as golf and tennis could resume.
Pubs, bars and restaurants will have to wait until early May under the plans, with a maximum of two households allowed to sit together indoors and the rule of six applying outside.
The next stage, in early June, would see the rules for pubs and restaurants relaxed with the rule of six extended indoors.
The hospitality and domestic holiday industries could be allowed to return to normal in July – with social distancing.
It comes as the government is set to unveil a new slogan and the PM plans to send testing kits to millions of homes and businesses as lockdown is eased.
'Are you ready? Get testing. Go' will reportedly be a new campaign launched ahead of the reopening of schools next month.
The gradual approach means traders will have to wait until at least Easter – early April – for a limited restart
Ministers will not make a final decision on the roadmap timetable until this weekend when they are presented with the latest data on the spread of the virus.
Boris Johnson will unveil the plan on Monday. But the blueprint is the most detailed outline of the Government's thinking so far.
It appears to confirm that – contrary to the demands of some Tory MPs – the Prime Minister is determined to be cautious, with plenty of 'headroom' to adjust to any resurgence of the virus.
The fact that the rule of six and social distancing are expected to remain in force until well into the summer indicates the extent of the worries over new mutations.
The Mail can also reveal that office staff are expected to be told to keep working from home when the Prime Minister unveils his roadmap.
He is not expected to set a firm date for when employees should return to their desks, meaning that the 'work from home if you can' message will continue for the foreseeable future.
This is likely to include the reopening of holiday lets and larger hotels, with dining rooms still closed
As an organisation representing health trusts wrote to the PM to insist that data, rather than dates, was key:
- An additional 1.7million people will be told to shield in England after experts identified them as at serious risk;
- 820,000 of them will now be able to get their vaccines 'as quickly as possible';
- Government scientists want to keep the 'one metre-plus' social-distancing rule for the foreseeable future;
- A major report warned NHS waiting lists could hit a record 10million;
- The UK is expected to have enough vaccine for one jab for all over-50s by mid-March – and two for all adults by August;
- Almost 4,000 Amazon workers were wrongly told to self-isolate;
- Lord Lloyd Webber has revamped his theatre empire with improved ventilation;
- Nicola Sturgeon said the youngest pupils would return to Scotland's classrooms for face-to-face teaching from next week;
- Four travellers were fined £10,000 each for failing to declare they had been in a Covid hotspot country;
- It was claimed that guests staying at a quarantine hotel were being allowed outside as much as they liked;
- A further 799 people have died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19, bringing the UK total to 118,195; another 10,625 cases were confirmed.
Sports such as golf and tennis could resume. Pubs, bars and restaurants will have to wait until early May under the plans, with a maximum of two households allowed to sit together indoors and the rule of six applying outside
The rapid roll-out of the vaccine has boosted optimism that Mr Johnson will announce that the long winter lockdown can be lifted sooner than expected.
It was claimed yesterday that the NHS will receive enough vaccine doses to jab everyone over 50, or 32million people, by the end of March – a full month ahead of schedule.
Almost one in four Britons has now had at least one jab and experts yesterday said the UK's vaccination programme was reducing coronavirus deaths among the over-80s.
However, the blueprint revealed by the Mail today is likely to be seen as more cautious than many in the hospitality and leisure sector were asking for.
They had warned that businesses would go under unless they were allowed to get going again from the Easter weekend.
The next stage, in early June, would see the rules for pubs and restaurants relaxed with the rule of six extended indoors
The new route map, the most detailed outline of the Government's thinking so far, lays out how vast swathes of the UK economy will reopen.
As already widely reported, schools will reopen from March 8, along with an easing of the restrictions on outdoor exercise and meeting others outdoors, followed by the reopening of non-essential shops at the end of March, or at the start of April at the latest.
Under plans discussed with industry figures, staycations in self-catered holiday lets, second homes or larger hotels would return in the first half of April, potentially just after Easter.
Outdoor leisure, such as theme parks, public gardens and zoos, and outdoor sports such as golf, open air gyms and tennis would get the go-ahead at the same time.
This 'soft opening' of the economy would then be followed with a loosening of restrictions every four weeks if case numbers and hospital admissions continued to fall.
An industry source said: 'The suggestion is that we would broadly go back to normal in late June or July.'
Other insiders believe decisions could be taken at three-week intervals, as this is the time that it takes for the data to demonstrate the effect of the lockdown loosening.
Nicola Sturgeon reveals a roadmap out of restrictions (six days before Boris): First Minister confirms Scottish schools will reopen on MONDAY, two weeks before England, warns people NOT to book foreign holidays - and lockdown won't be lifted until APRIL
Nicola Sturgeon confirmed that Scottish schoolchildren will return to class from next Monday, a full fortnight before their English counterparts.
The First Minister said that a phased reopening of schools will begin from February 22 - but dashed the hopes of Scots dreaming of a foreign summer holiday this year.
Under the plans announced at the start of February and confirmed at Holyrood this afternoon, pupils in Primary 1 to Primary 3 would also be allowed back into school first, as would those in the senior phase of secondary school.
All children under school age in early learning and childcare would also return.
The move heaps pressure on Boris Johnson to confirm classes in England will begin again on March 8.
He is widely expected to confirm this when he unveils a 'roadmap' out of lockdown next Monday, but questions remain over how many children will immediately return.
Ms Sturgeon said that after Monday, further returns to school would not happen before March 15, given the need to properly assess the ramifications of the return in phase one.
The First Minister said: 'I want to be clear, though, that the need to properly assess the impact of this limited reopening means we think it unlikely, at this stage, that there will be any further return to school before 15 March.
'As we consider these issues, we are of course doing everything we can to ensure that schools are as safe as possible for children, and for the education workforce.'
Senior phase pupils, teachers and school staff will be given lateral flow testing twice a week from next week.
The Scottish Government hopes to produce a full roadmap out of lockdown next week, Ms Sturgeon added.
But as a payoff for the schools going back, she warned today that foreign holidays are probably ruled out this year.
'We are very likely to advise against booking Easter holidays, either overseas or within Scotland as it is highly unlikely that we will have been able to fully open hotels or self-catering accommodation by then,' she told MSPs.
'However for the summer, while it is still highly unlikely that overseas holidays will be possible or advisable, staycations might be - but this will depend on the data nearer the time.'
The First Minister said that a phased reopening of classrooms will begin from February 22.
Boris Johnson is expected to reveal his plans to reopen schools in England on February 22Later, Finance Secretary Kate Forbes extended a business rates holiday to all retail, hospitality, leisure and aviation businesses during the 2021-22 financial year.
It will be funded from £1.1bn of cash from the UK Government under the Barnett Consequentials used to fairly distribute money to the four UK nations.
Returning to '100 per cent normality' will likely not be possible in the near future in Scotland, Ms Sturgeon said.
The First Minister told MSPs that some restrictions may have to remain in place, and 'trade offs' will have to be made to ease some restrictions, such as the return of schools.
Ms Sturgeon said: 'I know this is difficult given how desperate we all are to get back to something close to normal, but if we open up too quickly to meet arbitrary dates, we risk setting progress back.
'Indeed, because of the new, more infectious variant, our exit from lockdown is likely to be even more cautious than it was last summer.
'And secondly, probably for a while yet, 100 per cent normality is unlikely to be possible.
'So in a world where we can't do everything immediately, we will need to decide what matters most.'
The First Minister told MSPs in the Scottish Parliament that lockdown 'has been working' with a slowing down of the virus.
She said, though, the situation is still very fragile, adding 'even a slight easing of restrictions could cause cases to start rising rapidly again'.
She said there would be no 'immediate changes to the current lockdown restrictions' and the 'core stay at home requirement will remain in place until at least the beginning of March - and possibly for a further period beyond that'.
Schoolchildren in Wales are also expected to return from February 22.
The seven-day incidence rate in Wales has fallen to below 100 cases per 100,000 people for the first time in 'many, many months', while the test positivity rate is now under 10 per cent.
Health minister Vaughan Gething said yesterday that that the 'majority of headroom' created by the improved situation in Wales would be used to return children aged seven and under to face-to-face teaching from February 22.
However, schools in Northern Ireland are expected to remain closed until March 8 in line with England.
It came as the Scottish Government probed the case of US travellers mistakenly made to quarantine in a hotel despite a loophole in the rules.
Chun Wong and his daughter Kiernan, eight, arrived at Edinburgh airport on Monday via a connecting flight in Dublin and were set to spend 10 days self-isolating in a nearby hotel.
However, Mr Wong was contacted by officials later to tell him he did not need to abide by the rules.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: 'We are looking into the circumstances that led to Mr Wong being wrongly advised he needed to book a managed isolation package and would like to thank the family for their patience.
'This is a very new system, being implemented at pace, and some initial challenges are to be expected.
'However, once the error was identified, the family were contacted and advised they could make alternative arrangements for their self-isolation period.
'We are following up with the travel management company to ensure a full refund is provided to Mr Wong.'
People flying directly into a Scottish airport on international flights have to self-isolate for 10 days in a quarantine hotel room, under new regulations taking effect on Monday.
Unless exempt, a passenger will have to pay £1,750 to quarantine in a room at one of six designated hotels in a bid to avoid importation of the virus.
In England, the UK Government will only require hotel quarantine for visitors from a 'red list' of 33 countries designated as high risk, meaning travellers arriving from elsewhere could avoid it by entering Scotland via England.
It also applies to those flying from the common travel area, which includes Ireland.
Visitors would still have to self-isolate for the 10-day period, but would not have to do so at one of the designated hotels due to a lack of agreement between Scottish and Westminster governments.
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