UK draws up three-stage plan for easing coronavirus lockdown

The first phase of relaxation will involve outdoor workplaces and small shops reopening, the second will involve large shopping centres reopening and more people being encouraged to return to work, the report said. Pubs, restaurants, hotels and leisure centres will be among the last businesses to reopen, the Times said. The UK lockdown was announced by Johnson in a televised speech on 23 March with tough restrictions on movement introduced the next day. Three weeks later on 16 April, Dominic Raab – standing in for the coronavirus-stricken Prime Minister – said lockdown would persist for at least another three weeks as the UK was not past the peak of the disease.