UK likely to remain in lockdown until end of May

The United Kingdom is set to continue its lockdown until at least the end of May, according to Reuters.

The news agency quotes a senior government adviser saying there are two conditions that must be met prior to relaxing the rules on staying home: the spread of the virus must slow and intensive testing must be in place.

"We want to move to a situation where at least by the end of May we're able to substitute some less intensive measures, more based on technology and testing, for the complete lockdown we have now," said Neil Ferguson, a leading professor of mathematical biology at Imperial College London.

According to the latest figures from Johns Hopkins University, the UK has 38,690 reported cases of COVID-19 and 3,605 confirmed deaths.