London, Jun 1: The UK began what the government has termed “very cautious” first steps towards unlocking the coronavirus lockdown on Monday, with primary schools welcoming back pupils within socially distanced norms.

Schools have remained open throughout the lockdown for the children of key workers and vulnerable children, but they will now welcome back millions more primary pupils.

However, many families are expected to keep children home amid fears of a second wave of the deadly virus, which has claimed over 38,000 lives in the country. US Sends Brazil Over 2 Million Doses of Hydroxychloroquine Which Is Unproven for COVID-19 Treatment.

“The government is taking very cautious, tentative steps towards easing the coronavirus lockdown and the measures will continue to be reviewed,” UK Business Secretary Alok Sharma said on Monday, the first day of the strict stay-at-home measures being eased across England. “The one thing nobody wants to see is a second spike,” the Indian-origin minister said.

Schools are expected to reorganise their classrooms, with lots of hand washing and other hygiene rules in place. The first stage in the easing of restrictions since the lockdown, which was formally announced by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on March 23, covers groups of six people being allowed to meet outside in England and outdoor markets and car showrooms being able to become operational within COVID-secure conditions.

There is a more patchy picture emerging across other parts of the United Kingdom, with the devolved administrations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland taking their own tentative steps based on localised concerns.

In Wales, no date has been set for schools to start welcoming back all pupils and in Scotland and Northern Ireland, schools are going back only from August.

While in Wales and Scotland people from two different households can meet each other outdoors, groups of four to six people who are not in the same household can meet outdoors in Northern Ireland.

Scientists and experts, including from the government's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) which is advising on the pandemic response, have expressed concerns over the lifting of restrictions at this stage as being too risky.

But ministers have stressed that the timing is right for a gradual easing of the lockdown, which will be further expanded from mid-June when non-essential retail and other businesses will be allowed to open up under COVID-secure rules.

“I want to reaffirm that fundamental commitment to the British people that all the steps we have taken, and will take, are conditional. They are conditional on all the data, and all the scientific advice, and it is that scientific advice which will help us to judge what we are doing is safe,” Johnson had said, when he announced an unlocking from June 1 last week.

He has stressed that any of the measures will be rolled back if there are signs of a spike in the R value, or the reproduction rate of the virus, which must stay below one as it is at present.