BRITS have hit the parks today with temperatures set to soar to 26C – and cops are on patrol to catch sunbathers.
It comes after the Government pleaded with people not to be tempted by the warm Easter weekend and stay at home to beat coronavirus.
The Met Office predicts London could reach a balmy 26C today – with people already seen hitting Victoria Park and Brockwell Park for their daily exercise.
Most people visiting the green spaces look to be keeping their distance from others and doing the right thing, but cops are ready to warn anyone against sunbathing or flouting the strict lockdown rules.
Good Friday’s warm weather proved to be too tempting for some who ignored Government guidance to flock to the beach and bask in the sun.
Dozens of people hit the beach in record temperatures, some in large groups, despite repeated warnings from authorities not to do so.
According to Paul Netherton, deputy chief constable of Devon and Cornwall, the force is looking at deploying boats off the coast as beaches were flooded with sunbathers yesterday.
At yesterday’s No10 press conference, England’s Chief Nursing Officer Ruth May said she had seen large groups gathering in London and was unhappy to see pictures emerging from around the country.
She said: “It’s very, very frustrating, personally frustrating to see people clearly not doing social distancing and coming out in large groups.”
It comes as it was revealed social distancing could be in place indefinitely, while the government works to battle the killer virus causing chaos across the world.
More than 100,000 people have now died from coronavirus, with more than a million cases globally.
Although plans show the lockdown is likely to be in place for a few more months at least, The Telegraph reports a careful return to classrooms could be the first stage in the virus exit strategy.
Whitehall officials in the Department for Education are thought to be considering plans which would start different age groups going back to school between June and July, after the break.
But this is said to all hinge on when the peak of the pandemic arrives for the UK – which has so far seen 70,272 cases of the killer bug, and 8,958 deaths.
Yesterday Britain’s coronavirus death toll jumped by 980 in 24 hours – making it the biggest rise yet and more deadly Spain’s worst day of their outbreak.
The majority of the daily death toll came in England, where 866 people died.
The latest victims were aged between 27 and 100 – including 56 with no underlying health conditions.
Matt Hancock told yesterday’s No 10 press conference the devastating figures did not mean the NHS is being “overrun” by the pandemic.
He said: “I’m very pleased, that thus far in this crisis, there is no point where the NHS has been overrun, and every single person with coronavirus has been able to access the best possible care in the NHS, because we have taken the action to expand the NHS.”
People who drive to the beach or have a picnic could be fined up to £960 or even be arrested.
As temperatures rise — police have warned people not to use the weather as an excuse to break the lockdown rules.
While it is okay to visit your nearby beach to exercise or walk across, anyone travelling further than their local area or visiting to sit or meet in large groups are breaking the law.
The death toll continues to climb as officials believe new Covid-19 infections will peak on Easter Sunday and the NHS is braced for a “tsunami” of cases this weekend.
Scientists modelling the outbreak believe tough social distancing measures have slowed the spread of the bug.
Hospital admissions are now predicted to start falling in around a fortnight, if Brits continue to stay at home.
Last week it was confirmed schools would not reopen after Easter after one minister suggested reopening schools after Easter could “kick-start the economy”.
The unnamed minister was quoted calling for kids to be allowed back to school after the Easter holidays in a fortnight.
Brits could live with coronavirus restrictions until a vaccine is developed which could take ‘around 18 months’, according to reports.
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More severe restrictions will be gradually phased out but some, such as remote working and isolating if you have symptoms of the virus, will remain in some form next year.
Scientists say the discovery of a vaccine is the only genuine “exit strategy” from the virus, meaning the country will have to adjust to a ‘new normal’, the Daily Mail reported.
It comes after foreign secretary Dominic Raab told the nation that it was “too early” to lift the lockdown, and that the country “must stick to the plan” in place.
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