Lockdown restrictions should be eased very gradually in order to maintain public trust in health policy following the coronavirus pandemic, according to experts advising the government.
A paper drawn up by the scientific pandemic influenza group on behaviour (SPI-B), considered by the scientific advisory group for emergencies (Sage) at its April 2 meeting, suggests the abrupt lifting of restrictions imposed for months may lead to people believing the risk of infection has ceased or significantly reduced.
The paper published by Sage today states: “If there is then an increase in infection rates that necessitates a reintroduction of restrictions this is likely to be seen as a serious failure of policy and trust in public health advice will be lost, leading to lower adherence to advice to restrict or to resume activity.
“To avoid these problems we would advocate trialling easing restrictions very gradually when epidemiologically indicated while clearly explaining why these particular activities are being resumed and how risks must be controlled if these activities are to be maintained.”
The note adds this method would allow an opportunity to gather epidemiological evidence about the impact of easing the restriction and provide evidence to the public about its impact.
It continues: “To maintain public trust and support it will be important to have acceptable and equitable criteria for selecting which activities can be resumed.”
The government is obliged this Thursday to consider extending or lifting the lockdown which has been in place since mid-March.
It is the second three-week period of lockdown in the UK.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to reveal his so-called road map exit strategy for easing lockdown on Sunday.
The government has come under increasing pressure to spell out its exit strategy as the UK public becomes increasingly fed up with restrictions and businesses are keen to get back to work to kickstart the economy.
But there are fears that if the lockdown is lifted too early there could be a second, deadly wave of coronavirus infections until an effective treatment or vaccine is found.
According to official figures, there have been 28,734 deaths in the UK so far from coronavirus, but the real figure could be higher as ONS data released today suggested death rates extrapolated from death certificates are 34 per cent higher than hospital data.
