A senior government adviser said yesterday that Britain will not be able to ease the strict isolation measures until the end of May, noting that the spread of the Corona virus should slow first, and that extensive testing be done.
Neil Ferguson, professor of mathematical biology at Imperial College London, said work was under way to determine how to introduce less restrictive rules at the right time.
"We want to move to a situation where we can, by the end of May, at least, replace the current measures of total public isolation with other measures that are lighter, and rely more on technology and testing," he told the BBC.
The Ministry of Health said that the number of deaths in Britain due to the virus rose by 20% to 4313 by Friday afternoon, with 708 new deaths recorded, compared to an increase of 23% on Thursday.
Ferguson mentioned that the peak of new cases may come within a period of one to 10 days, but he made it clear that adherence to strict regulations would determine the frequency of infection decline after that.
"It is balanced at the moment, and Britain could see elevated levels of injuries for weeks if people start mixing again," he added.
Britain initially took a conservative approach to the epidemic, but Prime Minister Boris Johnson imposed strict measures.
Ferguson: New cases peak within one to 10 days.