Shops, hairdressers and pub beer gardens will reopen from April 12 in England but people must not be complacent about the risks still posed by coronavirus, Boris Johnson said.
Confirming the next step on the road map out of lockdown, the Prime Minister told a Downing Street press conference he was looking forward to a pint of beer in a week’s time.
French hospital staff have said that the country’s third wave is “out of control” and the healthcare system is in danger of being overwhelmed.
France reported more than 46,000 new coronavirus infections on Saturday, with 5,273 people in ICU.
In an interview with French Radio France Inter last week, Health Minister Olivier Véran said he predicted cases to reach a peak within the next two weeks.
“We are doing everything we can to peak by the end of April, so we can have more freedoms in May,” Mr Veran said.
However, critical care doctors say the next few weeks will be even more challenging to get through than the first and second waves.
In an editorial published in Le Journal du Dimanche (JDD) late last month, 41 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) doctors said the French government’s decision to not enforce an earlier lockdown would soon “compel health workers to decide which patients should live and which should die.”
The sharp acceleration in cases is due to the spread of the more contagious British variant which has swept across the country.
