SCHOOLS could re-open “after Easter” but the lockdown is now set to last until at least May.
The Government is currently planning for the next stage of Britain’s battle against the coronavirus.
Speaking to the Times, an unnamed senior Minister claimed sending kids back to school would help the nation get back to normal.
They said: “We need to be led by the science, of course.
“But if we can reopen schools after the Easter holidays things could begin to get back to normal. It could kick-start the economy.”
Several ministers are said to believe schools should reopen two weeks after the Easter holidays.
Denmark’s government has already announced plans to reopen schools for children aged 11 and under, and say most of this will take place outside.
Britain’s lockdown, announced by Boris on March 23, was due to be reviewed on Easter Monday.
The peak of the virus is estimated to occur this weekend, but depends on the success of the lockdown measures so far.
It’s thought that until Britain has a full testing routine in place, the lockdown won’t be able to be lifted.
However, with Italy today extending its own lockdown measures until at least the middle of May, there are fears Britain’s will last even longer.
The UK has closely followed Italy in terms of deaths and infection rates.
Speaking this morning, Health minister Ed Argar claimed Britain was “not at the stage” where the lockdown can be relaxed.
He told BBC News this morning: “The evidence is not yet there which will allow is to make a decision.
“We couldn’t want to judge or preempt that evidence. That isn’t a position we are in yet.”
He added: “We will be reviewing it and we will be led by the scientific evidence when its the right time.
It is expected to be ended in stages amid Treasury fears that businesses won’t survive past June.
However, a list of options is being drawn up to remove the restrictions once the number of hospital admissions begins to fall.
So far there is not yet an accurate test which can tell whether a person has had the virus already and is likely to be immune to it.
Speaking yesterday, Chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance explained that the slight drop in the number of new infections shows that the UK could now see the curve start to flatten.
He said: “It’s possible that we’re beginning to see the beginning of change in terms of the curve flattening a little bit.
“We won’t know that for sure for a week or so.”
Today the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan suggested the peak of the virus was 10 days away.
He said: “I think we’re nowhere near lifting the lockdown.
“I speak to experts regularly, we think the peak, which is the worst part of the virus, is probably a week and a half away.”
It comes as a review claimed closing schools has a tiny impact on the spread of coronavirus but a harmful effect on kids and society.
Researchers found school closures alone could reduce UK deaths during the Covid-19 outbreak by as little as 2 per cent.
But the University College London experts warn the costs are “high”, with children’s health and education damaged and family finances hit.
They reviewed 16 studies on the impact of school closures and other social distancing measures in previous epidemics.
They say schools will need to consider how they can protect pupils when they reopen – perhaps staggering start and break times.
Nine in ten students worldwide – more than 1.5billion youngsters – are currently out of school because of coronavirus.
It comes as Downing Street’s hopes rose that Boris Johnson had overcome the worst of his coronavirus struggle as it was reported his fever was easing at last.
The PM, 55, was hailed as a “fighter” as he spent a second night in intensive care and the Queen led the world in sending him messages of support.
The longer Mr Johnson is off sick, the more he will have to rely on the stand-in PM Dominic Raab and the Cabinet to make huge decisions on how the nation deals with the crisis – including how and when to end the lockdown.
If Mr Johnson was forced to rest and recover for an extended period time, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab would continue to take control of the government after he was asked to stand-in for the PM yesterday.
This means he would have extra powers such as chairing National Security meetings, but he would not have weekly meetings with the Queen.
Yesterday the UK coronavirus death toll hit a new high after 786 deaths were recorded – bringing the total past 6,000 on the deadliest day so far.
