How will lockdown end in Leeds? Boris Johnson's 'cautious' exit strategy explained ahead of today's announcement

It will mean that Leeds will not revert back into any kind of local lockdown scheme, such as Tier 3 or Tier 2, when lockdown lifts, as happened over Christmas.

Instead, the Prime Minister will outline his blueprint for easing the stringent measures in England to Parliament on Monday, tasked with balancing a clamour of warnings from scientists to act gradually and calls from some Tory MPs to lift all legal restrictions by May.

Matt Hancock insisted that, despite the success of the vaccine rollout so far, and the “understandable” urge to return to normal life, the Government’s goal is to take a “cautious but irreversible approach”.

The current picture in Leeds is one of a city which has been stuck in some sort of restrictions for over 6 months. Local restrictions began in Leeds in October 2020, after the city was placed into Tier 2.

Leeds stayed in Tier 2 until an announcement of Tier 3 was made, which was superceded by another national lockdown.

That was lifted in December, when Leeds was put into Tier 3, which was then replaced by national lockdown again in January.

In a series of broadcast interviews on Sunday morning, Matt Hancock said there will be “weeks between the steps” so ministers can “watch carefully” the impact of each relaxation of the restrictions.

It was reported this week that schools will reopen on March 8, followed by some households being allowed to meet outdoors by the end of April, before non-essential shops, restaurants and finally pubs will reopen by the end of July.

Mr Hancock said that one in three adults in the UK has now received a coronavirus vaccine, and that the Government is confident it has the supplies to meet the July 31 target and to vaccinate all adults over 50, and higher risk groups, by April 15.

He told Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday: “The vaccination programme, whilst clearly going very well, will take time to be able to reach all people who have significant vulnerability, especially because we need to get the second jab to everybody.

“We’ve got time that needs to be taken to get this right. The Prime Minister will set out the road map tomorrow and he will set out the full details – taking into account that we need to take a cautious but irreversible approach, that’s the goal.”

Leading epidemiologist Professor John Edmunds, a member of the Government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), said any easing of the lockdown must be gradual to prevent a surge in hospital admissions and deaths.

He told BBC One’s The Andrew Marr Show that, while vaccinating all adults by the end of July will make a “huge difference”, easing restrictions rapidly would put the NHS under pressure again.

“If we eased off very rapidly now, we would get another surge in hospitalisations, so we have to ease very gradually. Otherwise we will put the health service under pressure again and we’ll get a surge in hospitalisations, and indeed deaths,” he said.

But Conservative former chief whip Mark Harper, leader of the Covid Recovery Group of lockdown-sceptic backbenchers, said all legal restrictions put in place in response to the pandemic should be lifted by the end of April.

He told the BBC that such a plan represents “a fairly cautious approach” because it would mean the top nine priority groups will have received a first dose of vaccine by then.

Mr Harper said restrictions should not remain in place simply to prevent the emergence of new variants, warning that such a policy would result in curbs being in place indefinitely.

“If we are going to say we are so worried about a future variant that might not be susceptible to the vaccine, that’s a recipe for never unlocking our economy and our society, and I don’t think that’s really an acceptable proposition.”

Mr Harper added that he hoped the Prime Minister’s road map “will be something that I and my colleagues can support”.

Mr Johnson will chair a meeting of senior ministers on Sunday, known as the “Covid S” committee, to finalise his road map before it is signed off by the Cabinet on Monday.

He will then unveil the plans to MPs in the Commons later that afternoon and is expected to lead a Downing Street press conference on Monday evening.