Image source, Andrew Parsons/No 10 Downing Street

Boris Johnson pays tribute to the efforts of the country so far, praising the “patience and common sense” of the nation.

He describes the elderly as having shown “fortitude”, saying he wants to be able to end their isolation “as fast as we can”.

After praising the “bravery and hard work” of NHS staff and care workers, he also thanks other essential workers including the police, bus drivers and bin collectors, as well as the scientists working to get a vaccine.

He says “millions of everyday acts of kindness and thoughtfulness” have helped get us through the first phase, and we can use “this plan to get us through the next”.

Image source, PA Media

The PM says the government “will not hesitate to put on the brakes” if there are further outbreaks of the virus.

He says the country has been through “the initial peak – but it is coming down the mountain that is often more dangerous”.

He says everyone in government “has the all-consuming pressure and challenge to save lives, restore livelihoods and gradually restore the freedoms that we need”.

“But in the end this is a plan that everyone must make work.”

Image source, PA Media

Boris Johnson says the government’s plan over the next two months will be driven by the “science, data and public health” - not “hope or economic necessity”.

He stresses that all of the changes are “conditional” – and depend on a series of “big ifs”, adding that the entire country needs to follow the advice to keep the R level down.

He says he’s serving notice that it will “soon be time” to impose quarantine on people coming into this country by air.

The PM adds that it's because the number of infections have gone down "that this measure will now be effective".

Boris Johnson says the next step could be to re-open “at least some of the hospitality industry and other public places” at the earliest by July.

He is tentative, however, saying it is “subject to all these conditions and further scientific advice”, and adding that it would only happen “if and only if the numbers support it”.

But, “provided they are safe and enforce social distancing”, the government hopes to take the step.

Image source, PA Media

The PM says he believes the first stage of “going further” will be to the phased reopening of shops and to get primary pupils back into schools.

He says school returns will be done in stages, beginning with reception, Year 1 and Year 6.

But he warns the earliest this could happen is 1 June, after half-term.

He adds: “Our ambition is that secondary pupils facing exams next year will get at least some time with their teachers before the holidays.

“And we will shortly be setting out detailed guidance on how to make it work in schools and shops and on transport.”

Johnson says it will "soon be the time... to impose quarantine on people coming into this country by air".

The prime minister says some of the hospitality industry could open by July.

He says: "At the earliest by July - and subject to all these conditions and further scientific advice; if and only if the numbers support it, we will hope to re-open at least some of the hospitality industry and other public places, provided they are safe and enforce social distancing."

Boris Johnson says if the government achieves its goal of a "world-beating system", it will be “testing literally hundreds of thousands of people every day”.

The latest government figures show testing has not reached the 100,000 a day target for the past eight days.

He claims progress on testing has been “fast”, but there is “so much more to do”.

“We are shining the light of science on this invisible killer, and we will pick it up where it strikes," he adds.

Johnson says the new alert system will be able to detect “local flare ups” and give a national picture, but, while the R number is between 0.5 and 0.9, he says it is “potentially only just below one”.

The PM adds: “And though we have made progress in satisfying at least some of the conditions I have given. We have by no means fulfilled all of them.”

Schools will return on June 1 "at the earliest", with primary schools returning first, says Boris Johnson.

Boris Johnson says the next step from Wednesday will be to “encourage people to take more and even unlimited amounts of outdoor exercise”.

He says: “You can sit in the sun in your local park, you can drive to other destinations, you can even play sports but only with members of your own household.”

But he warns people “must obey the rules on social distancing” and to enforce them, the fines police can give out will be increased.

Johnson says, “with ever increasing data” and being able to track progress, “if we as a nation begin to fulfil the conditions I have set out, then in the next few weeks and months we may be able to go further.”

Boris Johnson says, as there is more to do, “this is not the time simply to end the lockdown this week”, and instead, he says the government is taking “the first careful steps to modify our measures”.

First up is going to work. The PM says people have been told to work from home if they can, but says: “We now need to stress that anyone who can’t work from home, for instance those in construction or manufacturing, should be actively encouraged to go to work.”

He says he wants it to be safe for those employees, so calls on people to “avoid public transport if at all possible”, adding: “We must and will maintain social distancing, and capacity will therefore be limited.”

The PM says: “So, work from home if you can, but you should go to work if you can’t work from home.”

He also says the government has been working to establish new guidance for employers to make workplaces safe - or “COVID-secure”.

Image source, Andrew Parsons/No 10 Downing Street

"This is not the time simply to end the lockdown this week," the prime minister says.

"Instead we are taking the first careful steps to modify our measures.

"We now need to stress that anyone who can’t work from home, for instance those in construction or manufacturing, should be actively encouraged to go to work."

Boris Johnson says there will be five alert levels in the system, with level one meaning the disease is no longer present in the UK and level five being “the most critical – the kind of situation we could have had if the NHS had been overwhelmed”.

The PM says we have been at level four during the lockdown, but “thanks to your sacrifice we are now in a position to begin to move in steps to level three”.

However, he says “everyone will have a role to play in keeping the R down… by staying alert and following the rules.”

And he adds there are two more things to do “to keep pushing the number of infections down”.

“We must reverse rapidly the awful epidemics in care homes and in the NHS, and though the numbers are coming down sharply now, there is plainly much more to be done.

“And if we are to control this virus, then we must have a world-beating system for testing potential victims, and for tracing their contacts.”

James Gallagher
Health and science correspondent, BBC News

At the beginning of the year few of us had heard of the “R number”. Now it rules our lives and will dictate the pace at which lockdown is lifted.

R is the number of people, on average, each infected person is passing the virus on to. If it is less than one then the epidemic recedes. If it is over one (it was three at the start) then cases increase exponentially.

Tonight Boris Johnson said there was some uncertainty but the value was between 0.5 and 0.9.

Reflect on that a moment - it has taken the whole of lockdown and R may be only just below one. Despite the huge efforts we have all taken, coronavirus may only just be under control.

What has to happen next is for methods other than lockdown to take on the burden of controlling the number of infections.

Much attention will be focused on test, track and trace. The more that is able to suppress the R number, the easier it will be to lift more of lockdown.

Image source, .

The PM reiterates the government’s five tests for ending lockdown; protecting the NHS, seeing a sustained fall in death rates, a fall in the rate of infection, sorting out “challenges” - such as procurement of personal protective equipment (PPE) - and stopping the so-called R number rising up over one and causing “exponential growth” of the virus.

He says we “cannot move forward unless we satisfy the five tests”.

Johnson announces the previewed plans by launching a new “Covid Alert System” which, he says, will be run by a new Joint Biosecurity Centre.

He says the level the country is at will be determined primarily by the R number and the number of coronavirus cases, and “will tell us how tough we have to be in our social distancing measures”, namely “the lower the level, the fewer the measures, the higher the level, the tougher and stricter we will have to be”.

A new Covid alert system will be put in place in England to track the virus, the prime minister confirms.

The system will use a scale of one to five and the alert level will be "determined primarily by R and the number of coronavirus cases".

Read more about the alert system here.

Boris Johnson says he will set out the plans he is announcing in Parliament and take questions from the public on Monday.

And he says before he finalised his plan, he consulted “across the political spectrum and across all four nations of the UK”.

The PM says different parts of the country are “experiencing the pandemic at different rates” and the government should be “flexible in our response”.

But, he adds: “I believe that as prime minister of the United Kingdom – Scotland, England, Wales, Northern Ireland, there is a strong resolve to defeat this together, and today a general consensus on what we could do.

“And I stress could. Because although we have a plan, it is a conditional plan.”

Chris Mason
Political Correspondent

Seven weeks on from lockdown being imposed, what is beginning right now, tentatively - and will last for months - is the difficult, awkward, more nuanced tiptoeing back towards something that resembles normality.

Difficult because the stakes are so high, the data is imperfect, and the demands on ministers can pull them in different directions.

And on top of that is the complexity of our constitution.

Boris Johnson is the UK Prime Minister, but can only vary most of the rules associated with the lockdown in England. It is for the devolved governments in Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast to make decisions on behalf of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

After offering more thanks to the public for protecting the NHS and “saving many thousands of lives”, the PM says it would be “madness now to throw away that achievement by allowing a second spike”.

He adds: “We must stay alert. We must continue to control the virus and save lives.”

Johnson says progress so far has “come at colossal cost to our way of life”, referencing shops, pubs, restaurants, and the “fear” people have for their livelihoods and their mental and physical wellbeing.

He says: “So I want to provide tonight - for you - the shape of a plan to address both fears.

“Both to beat the virus and provide the first sketch of a road map for reopening society.

“A sense of the way ahead, and when and how and on what basis we will take the decisions to proceed.”

The prime minister says "it would be madness now" to throw away the UK's "achievements" in curbing the number of coronavirus deaths "by allowing a second spike".