UK Edition
Ministers have begun circulating plans for life after the coronavirus lockdown, including requiring shoppers and commuters to wear cloth masks and radically rethinking how public transport operates in order to keep travellers two metres apart at all times.
The Telegraph has learnt that garden centres could reopen within a fortnight and local rubbish tips and recycling centres as early as this weekend under draft guidance submitted to Downing Street in recent days.
The documents suggest imminent moves to ease parts of the UK lockdown, which has been in place since March 23.
The Government is under pressure to publish a plan for leaving lockdown but has been reluctant to do so – not only over fears it will confuse the public over the core message to remain at home and also because the spread of coronavirus is far from under control.
But the disclosure that guidance is being circulated shows planning for a "new normal" is well under way.
The Telegraph understands that the Department for Transport (DfT) has begun consulting on how to solve the thorny issue of getting trains and buses – pared down to a very basic service – up and running again while ensuring travellers maintain strict social distancing rules.
One of its key recommendations is that commuters wear cloth face coverings, rather than medical masks, when travelling on buses, trains and the London Underground, and that masks should be worn in shops. The guidance is a departure from current Government advice that there is no scientific need to wear masks unless working in hospitals or care homes.
It is not clear whether wearing masks in enclosed spaces will become compulsory in post-lockdown Britain, but a source familiar with the guidance said it would be strongly recommended.
The new rules will require train operators and bodies such as Transport for London to clearly mark platforms and carriages with two-metre lines to enable passengers to maintain their social distance. Police will be required to implement crowd control measures, with train and Tube carriages and buses operating at about 50 per cent of normal capacity.
New timetables will need to be prepared across the rail network to allow for an upsurge in workers returning to shops, offices, workshops and factories. A source said the urgency of the guidance suggested lockdown could be eased within a fortnight – possibly even before May 7, when the Government is legally obliged to review the measures.
A Whitehall source said: "The plan for masks will be more than a recommendation. It is more of a compulsion for them to be worn in shops and on public transport.
"On social distancing, transport bosses will need to have two-metre markers in place so people can safely keep their distance. This will need British Transport Police to maintain a presence at the entrance to stations to ensure crowd control at the busiest times. The working day will have to be staggered to avoid a single rush hour.
"The new full for train carriages will not be the same as the old full. There is no precise timescale for all this, but the Government wants to have the conditions in place for when lockdown is lifted."
Local authority recycling centres could reopen as early as this weekend, The Telegraph understands.
Draft guidance was submitted over the weekend by the Department for the Environment to 10 Downing Street, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, and the Home Office. Police are needed to sign off the measures so they can manage the long queues likely to form as home owners start to clear a backlog of six weeks of rubbish destined for the tip.
There are other plans for an early reopening of garden centres within the next fortnight to allow them to take advantage of the crucial selling period in the weeks leading up to the two May Bank Holidays, otherwise hundreds of millions of pounds worth of plants will have to be thrown away.
The urgency for garden centres to start trading again follows the decision by B&Q to open its DIY stores that have garden centres attached. There is a recognition that that is unfair on smaller, often independent, garden centres, which risk going bust if they miss the planting season.
Professor Karol Sikora, a British cancer specialist and former adviser to the World Health Organisation, said the UK should begin easing lockdown as soon as Monday with the opening of shops, small businesses and garden centres and "see what happens".
Prof Sikora said: "As long as we don't see a second wave of the virus then we should plan for full operation by the end of May, including opening schools and even bars and pubs and with reduced social distancing.
"I would be aggressive about it. If we don't do that, more people will die from cancer and heart disease."
Professor Robert Dingwall, who sits on the Government's New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group, said a series of businesses could be safely opened in coming weeks, including shopping centres which have sophisticated air conditioning systems that would restrict any danger of the spread of the virus.
He said offices could also be reopened with safe social distancing, adding that Britain's insistence on people staying two metres apart was stricter than some other countries including Italy, which requires a metre, and Australia and the Netherlands, where distancing is 1.5 metres.
The announcement on Sunday by Giuseppe Conte, the Italian prime minister, that his country is to begin lifting much of its lockdown with a timetable in place to open everything from restaurants to beauty salons, will put Boris Johnson under pressure to follow suit.
Italy's lockdown was stricter than the UK's, with children forced to stay indoors, but Prof Dingwall said: "Since we never put the brake on as hard as Italy, we can certainly release it in step with Italy."
Britain has generally been tracking Italy by two weeks and continues to be largely on the same trajectory. Italy went into lockdown on March 9, when it had recorded 97 deaths and 1,797 cases, while the UK announced its shutdown on March 23, when the death toll had reached 54 and reported cases stood at 967.
Italy's worst day for deaths was March 27, when 919 fatalities were recorded, while the UK reported 980 deaths on April 10, a fortnight later.
The latest official figures for Italy show its death toll had dropped to its lowest for some time at 260, with 2,324 new cases, while the UK recorded 413 deaths and 4,463 new cases on April 26.
Experts warn against full comparisons because Italy's official death toll covers all deaths, including those in care homes and the wider community, while the UK is only recording hospital fatalities.
Under Italy's planned move out of lockdown, citizens can start travelling within a region but not to different regions, while the UK has – but struggled to enforce – a stay at home policy that prevents motorists travelling to beauty spots or second homes.
Funerals in Italy can take place with up to 15 people, and athletes can resume training – not just in the vicinity of their homes. Coffee bars and restaurants are expected to reopen on June 1, along withhairdressers and beauty salons. Many smaller shops have already been allowed to start trading again, but more stores will reopen – as well as museums, galleries and libraries – from May 18.
Downing Street is also said to be watching the progress of the Czech Republic, which has published a detailed timetable for ending its lockdown. Unlike the UK, the Prague government introduced the lockdown early and has limited coronavirus cases to 7,400 and deaths to just 221. The UK death toll in hospitals alone now stands at 20,735.
Many shops are reopening in the Czech Republic after the government brought forward its five-stage lockdown exit plan. Restaurants and theatres will be the last to reopen, by May 25.