Escaping lockdown: When will life return to normal?

Rather than end restrictions based on fixed dates, governments and societies will have to learn how to manage a complex series of risks over a much longer period

Clive Cookson, Sebastian Payne and Mehul Srivastava
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (centre) visiting a gym on Saturday. He decided to start opening up the economy from yesterday, amid a fast-paced vaccination campaign in the country. However, some leisure activities, like gym outings, will be restricted to those who can prove that they have either received both doses of the BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine, or have recovered recently from Covid-19. PHOTO: EPA-EFE
  • Published
    Feb 22, 2021, 5:00 am SGT
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FINANCIAL TIMES - "Let's use data, not dates," Professor Angela McLean, the British government's deputy chief scientific adviser, told members of Parliament last week. In the process, she provided a catchphrase that will guide the difficult discussion Britain starts this week about the route out of Covid-19 lockdown.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is set to announce a "road map" for lifting restrictions today, is under pressure from the more libertarian wing of his Conservative party and some business groups to outline a timetable for reopening specific sectors of the economy over the next two to three months.

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