Britain to extend lockdown for at least three weeks

A family pose for a picture in their home in north London. The UK has the fifth highest official death toll from Covid-19 in the world

Britain extended its nationwide lockdown for at least another three weeks on Thursday, as stand-in leader Dominic Raab ordered Britons to stay at home to prevent the spread of a coronavirus outbreak which has already claimed over 138,000 lives globally.

“Relaxing any of the measures currently in place would risk damage to both public health and the economy,” he told reporters.

Raab is deputising while Prime Minister Boris Johnson recuperates from COVID-19 complications that nearly cost him his life.