Is the UK Ready to Ease Lockdown?

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: I mean, what do you think is the — is going to be the result of this, of people going out? And do you think it’s premature to lift the stay at home directive?

DAVID KING, FORMER U.K. CHIEF SCIENTIFIC ADVISER: I do think it’s premature. I think we have to proceed with ultra- caution. And what my group tomorrow will be publishing is a 30-page report, and I can tell you that each page is full of detail, and we’re putting forward 18 recommendations to government. And our recommendations are focused on how we move on from today towards the potential end of the epidemic, but it’s setting it out in a form that really says caution has to be used at every step. Now, the government is also saying that, but so far, the rules are so obscure, it seemed apparent from the prime minister’s words yesterday that people were intended to go back to work today and that’s not happening or it shouldn’t be happening. It won’t happen for quite a period. So, I think the contusion is the worst possible outcome at this stage. I think that —

AMANPOUR: In your — I mean, we have heard — sorry. It is hard to talk sometimes across these Skypes. But I want to ask you because, I’d just to — if you could give me a few specific recommendations because people want to know, should they go back to work, how should they be protected, what is the right time to go back to work. And also, I think your report is fearful that there could be multiple waves of this infection, that could actually maybe even hit harder than this first wave.

KING: I think there’s several points about this. If we look at what is the most important set of criteria that should be used to get us out of the epidemic, we would face two things. One, minimize the number of deaths and, two, get us out of this as quickly as possible. Now, those two are not incompatible because if we move too quickly now, we’re back to square one. We’re back to where we began towards the end of March with the lockdown and we’re simply extending the time period when we can’t get back to work. So, I think being cautious at every stage of the game is critical. Now, what are we saying? We are saying the government should refocus its ambition to finding every case and tracking and supporting contacts and ensuring an effective community quarantine policy of 14, not 7 days, isolation for all of those contacts.