Scientific advisors to the UK government have warned of the risk of lifting the lockdown rules in England, as the UK begin the final weekend before rules change.
Professor John Edmunds said that it was a “political decision” to ease measures; Sir Jeremy Farrer said that the NHS test and tracking system should be “fully working”.
From Monday, schools will be reopened and up to six people will be able to meet in England, with other nations also easing their measures.
The government have said that it had followed the data and evidence at all times.
Sir Jeremy, director of the Wellcome Trust and a member of Saga (the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies), said in a Tweet that Covid-19 is “spreading too fast to lift lockdown in England” and that NHS test and trace “has to be fully working and infection rates have to be lower”.
Sage has published of its confidential meetings which include minutes of 34 sessions, going back to January 22 and a series of scientific reports.
They show one Sage meeting, on April 23, which estimated that there would be only 1,000 cases per day by mid-May.
Instead, estimates by the Office for National Statistics suggest that there are currently 8,000 cases per day in England alone. Those figures do not include cases in care homes or hospitals.