UK expected to stick to lockdown as Johnson outlines future

LONDON (AP) — Taking a different tack than most other nations, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to extend the bulk of the country’s coronavirus lockdown restrictions for three weeks or so when he speaks to the nation Sunday evening.

Following a week of mixed messages that started with Johnson indicating that there will be changes to the lockdown beginning Monday, the government has sought to douse speculation that they will amount to much. That's because the U.K., which has recorded the most coronavirus-related deaths in Europe at 31,662, is still seeing a relatively high number of infections.

"Extreme caution is actually the watchword on this,” Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said Saturday.

His comments came as British police warned they are “fighting a losing battle” as Londoners headed out to parks, families descended on the pebble beaches of Brighton in southern England and many drivers set out on what are considered unessential journeys amid the lockdown.

“It’s vital that we don’t throw away essentially the great work of seven weeks of people respecting very impressively the rules and the guidelines, by throwing it away because it happens to be sunny outside this weekend," Shapps said. “That would be absolutely tragic.”

The worry is that the U.K. lockdown, which began March 23 and has clearly reduced the transmission of the virus, will need to be extended for longer than envisioned. Johnson has voiced worries of a second spike in infections and deaths — something that health experts have said is absolutely going to happen worldwide as nations ease their lockdowns. Johnson's Conservative government has also faced wide criticism for being too slow to react to the pandemic and for not supplying medical workers with enough protective gear.

Johnson, more than other world...