Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis has refused to rule out the government lifting London out of lockdown before the rest of the country after Public Health England (PHE) modelling suggested fewer than 24 people are catching the virus each day in the capital.
The modelling, from PHE and Cambridge University researchers, calculated that the number of new cases in London was halving every 3.5 days.
The reproduction rate, which is the number of people someone with coronavirus infects, has fallen to 0.4, lower than any other region in the country.
The research found that around one in five Londoners have likely been infected with coronavirus, more than any other region.
Speaking to the BBC, Lewis did not rule out lifting London’s lockdown first, and said it would be “quite natural” and “quite appropriate” for devolved authorities to lift measures at a different rate than England.
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