a re what we are expecting from the british prime minister and, as i say, we will be joined british prime minister and, as i say, we will bejoined by british prime minister and, as i say, we will be joined by all of our viewers around the world, and indeed on bbc one, for this televised address. it is now almost two months since the people of this country began to put up with restrictions on their freedom, your freedom, put up with restrictions on their freedom, yourfreedom, of the kind we have never seen before in peace or war. and you have shown that a good sense to support those rules, overwhelmingly. you have put up with all of the hardships of that programme of social distancing, because you understand that, as things stand, and as the experience of every other country has shown, it is the only way to defeat the coronavirus, the most vicious threat this country has faced in my lifetime. and though the death toll has been tragic, and the suffering immense, and though we grieve for all of those we have lost, it is a

fa ct all of those we have lost, it is a fact that, by adopting those measures, we prevented this country from being engulfed by what could have been a catastrophe in which a reasonable worst—case scenario was half a million fatalities. and it is thanks to your effort, and sacrifice, in stopping the spread of this disease, that the death rate is coming down and hospital admissions are coming down. thanks to you, we protected our nhs and saved many thousands of lives. and so, i know, you know, that it would be madness now to throw away that achievement by allowing a second spike. we must stay alert, we must continue to control the virus and save lives. and yet we must also recognise that this campaign against the virus has come at colossal cost to our way of life. we can see it all around us in the shuttered shops and abandoned businesses, the darkened pubs and

restau ra nts. businesses, the darkened pubs and restaurants. and there are millions of people who are both fearful of this terrible disease and, at the same time, also fearful of what this long period of enforced inactivity will do to their livelihoods and their mental and physical well—being. to their futures, their mental and physical well—being. to theirfutures, and the futures of their children. so, i wa nt to the futures of their children. so, i want to provide, tonight, for you, the shape of a plan to address both fears. both to beat the virus and provide the first sketch of a road map for reopening society. a sense of the way ahead, and when, and how, and on what basis we will take the decisions to proceed. i will be setting out more details on parliament tomorrow, and taking questions from the public in the evening. i consulted across the

political spectrum, across all four nations of the uk. and, though different parts of the country are experiencing the pandemic at different rates, and though it is right to be flexible in our response, i believe that, as prime minister of the united kingdom, scotland, england, wales, northern ireland, there is a strong resolve to defeat this together. and today, a general consensus on what we could do. and i stress could. because although we have a plan, it is a conditional plan. and since our priority is to protect the public and save lives, we cannot move forward unless we satisfy the five tests. we must protect our nhs, we must see sustained falls in the death rate, we must see sustained and considerable falls in the rate of infection. we must sort out our

challenges in getting enough ppe to the people that need it and, yes, it isa the people that need it and, yes, it is a global problem, but we must fix it. last, we must make sure that any measures we take do not force the reproduction rate of the disease, the r, back—up over i. so we have the r, back—up over i. so we have the kind of exponential growth we we re the kind of exponential growth we were facing a few weeks ago. and to chart our progress and to avoid going back to square one, we are establishing a new covid alert system, establishing a new covid alert syste m , ru n establishing a new covid alert system, run by a newjoint bio—security centre. and that covid alert level will be determined primarily by r, and the number of coronavirus cases and, in turn, that covid alert level will tell us how tough we have to be on our social distancing measures. the lower the level, the fewer the measures, the

higher the level, the tougher and stricter we will have to be. there will be five alert levels. level one means the disease is no longer present in the uk. level five is the most critical, the kind of situation we could have had if the nhs had been overwhelmed. over the period of the lockdown, we have been in level four, and it is thanks to your sacrifice that we are now in a position to begin to move, in steps, to level three. and, as we go, eve ryo ne to level three. and, as we go, everyone will have a role to play in keeping the r down, by staying alert on following the rules. and to keep pushing them rougher infections down —— to keep pushing the number of infections down, there are two maximal things we must do. must reverse rapidly the awful epidemics in care homes on the nhs. and though the numbers are coming down sharply,

there is plainly a much more to be done. and if we are to control this virus, we must have a world beating system for testing potential victims and for tracing their contacts, so that, all told, we are testing literally hundreds of thousands of people every day. we have made fast progress on testing, but there is so much more to do now, and we can. when this began, we had not seen this disease before, and we didn't fully understand its effects. with every day, we are getting more and more data, we are shining the light of science on this invisible killer, and we will pick it up where it strikes. because our new system will be able, in time, to detect local flare—ups in your area, as well as giving us a national picture. and yet, when i look at where we are

tonight, we have the r below i, between 0.5 and 0.9. but potentially only just below i. and between 0.5 and 0.9. but potentially onlyjust below i. and though we have made progress in satisfying at least some of the conditions i have given, we have by no means fulfilled all of them. and so, no, this is not simply the time simply to end the lockdown this week. instead, we are taking the first, careful steps to modify our measures. and the first step is a change of emphasis that we hope that people will act on this week. we said that you should work from home, if you can, and only go to work if you must. we now need to stress that anyone who can't work from home, for instance those in construction and manufacturing, should be actively encouraged to go to work. and we want it to be safe for you to get to work. so you should avoid public

transport if at all possible, because we must and will maintain social distancing, and capacity will therefore be limited. so, work from home if you can, but you should go to work if you can't work from home. and to ensure you are safe at work, we have been working to establish new guidance for employers to make workplaces covid secure. and when you do go to work, if possible, do so by car, or, even better, by walking or bicycle. but, just as with workplaces, public transport operators will also be following covid secure standards. and, from this wednesday, we want to encourage people to take more and even unlimited amounts of outdoor exercise. you can sit in the sun in your local park, you can drive to other destinations, you can even play sports, but only with members of your own household.

you must obey the rules on social distancing. and, to enforce those rules, we will increase the fines for the small minority who break them. and so, every day, with ever—increasing data, we will be monitoring the r and the number of new infections, and the progress we are making. and if we, as a nation, begin to fulfil the conditions i have set out, then, in the next few weeks and months, we may be able to go further. in step two, at the earliestjune ist, after half term, we believe we may be in a position to begin the phased reopening of shops and to get primary pupils back into schools. in stages, beginning with reception, year one and year six. our ambition is that secondary pupils facing exams next year will get at least some time

with their teachers before the holidays. we will shortly be setting out detailed guidance on how to make it work in schools and shops, and on transport. and step three, at the earliest byjuly and subject to all these conditions, and further scientific advice, if, and only if, the numbers to support it, we will hope to reopen at least some of the hospitality industry and other public places, provided they are safe, and enforce social distancing. throughout this period, the next two months, we will be driven not by mere hope or economic necessity. we are going to be driven by the science, the data and public health. and i must stress again that all of this is conditional. it all depends ona this is conditional. it all depends on a series of big ifs. it depends

on a series of big ifs. it depends on all