UK lockdown to be extended by at least 3 weeks amid Covid-19 fears

The UK will extend its coronavirus lockdown measures for at least a further three weeks, First Secretary of State Dominic Raab has confirmed.

Raab added that the government can’t yet provide a detailed time frame for easing the restrictions.

If I start giving you artificial and arbitrary time frames, it would be the irresponsible thing to do, and I can't do that.

The country is currently in its fourth week of lockdown and social distancing, after Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the introduction of the emergency measures in a televised address to the nation on March 23.

A Cobra committee meeting was held today, as these measures were set to be reviewed after an initial three-week period.

The decision comes as the UK's coronavirus death toll reaches 13,729, according to the Johns Hopkins University (JHU) tracker – ranking fifth globally, behind only the US, Italy, Spain and France.

Raab hopes that extending the lockdown measures will ease the burden on Britain's National Health Service (NHS), flatten the curve and prevent further loss of life.

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