Monday morning news briefing: ‘Six months’ from normal life

Britain is one week into full coronavirus lockdown. Could there be 25 more to go? A senior government adviser has warned that civil liberties could be restricted until the autumn, as she said a “normal way of living” may not return for more than six months. Dr Jenny Harries, the Deputy Chief Medical Officer, said that even if the current lockdown shows positive results within weeks, it would be “quite dangerous” to lift the curbs too quickly. Boris Johnson will review the lockdown in two weeks’ time, but has never guaranteed it would end then. And Michael Gove, the Cabinet Office minister, said yesterday that the lockdown would last longer if people did not obey the rules on social distancing – warning the public to limit daily walks to a maximum of an hour ahead of a tightening up of rules. Read our ultimate lockdown Q&A on the new rules for living.

Official figures show that a total of 1,228 people have now died in the UK after catching coronavirus. Among them is an ear, nose and throat consultant from Derby – the first front-line hospital worker to die from Covid-19. But it has emerged that there is a lag in reporting the death toll, which means many more patients might have already died. Use our postcode tool to search for confirmed coronavirus cases by area.

MORE: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/03/30/monday-morning-news-briefingsix-months-normal-life/