Britain has issued guidance for wearing face coverings in public on Monday as part of a large plan to slowly reopen the country’s economy.
Boris Johnson’s government released the 50-page "Our Plan to Rebuild: The UK government's COVID-19 recovery strategy" document on Monday, detailing guidance for how to make homemade face coverings as well as where they must be worn. The document also said that as of this week, Britons are allowed to meet with one person from outside their household while standing two meters apart.
"Our challenge now is to find a way forward that preserves our hard-won gains while easing the burden of lockdown," Johnson said in a statement to the House of Commons Monday.
"I will be candid with the House. This is a supremely difficult balance."
Opposition leaders have accused Downing street of issuing confusing or inconsistent guidelines on social distancing and plans to reopen the country.
The new guidance lacks specific details on how employers may be required to protect their employees.
The leaders of Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland have all said they were maintaining the current “stay-at-home" message for their constituents.
Britain is nearly tied with Spain for the second-highest number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the world. Over 32,000 Britons have died from the virus, according to statistics from Johns Hopkins University, second only to the United States.
Boris Johnson was the first world leader to test positive for the disease. He returned to work in late April after weeks of treatment.
