THE easing of the lockdown south of the Border is “not a dash” but a cautious, phased approach, Alok Sharma, the UK Government’s Business Secretary, has insisted as public health chiefs expressed concerns that restrictions were being lifted too quickly.

From today in England a range of measures are being eased provided that social distancing measures are maintained. These include:

*the return of primary school pupils to their classes - in Scotland, teachers can return to schools from today to prepare for the start of the new school year on August 11 when pupils will do a hybrid of learning at school and at home;

*groups of up to six people can meet outdoors – in Scotland, the number is up to eight, a measure which came into effect on Friday;

*outdoor retail such as markets and car showrooms can reopen – in Scotland, garden centres and plant nurseries were able to open for business last Friday and

*those regarded as clinically extremely vulnerable with underlying health conditions, who have been shielding at home, will be able to venture outside for the first time in 10 weeks – in Scotland, the stay at home message for this group continues until at least June 18.

The UK Government’s easing of the lockdown restrictions south of the Border has been criticised as being too much too soon. It has been estimated that as many as half of the two million young children now able to return to their classrooms will not be doing so as some parents, teaching unions and local authorities continue to express fears that the conditions are not yet safe.

Jeanelle de Gruchy, President of the Association of Directors of Public Health, said: "The[UK Government’s] five tests haven't yet been met.

"In terms of the R[rate of infection], it's 0.7 to 0.9 in the latest Government assessment. It is below one but it's a very limited room for manoeuvre isn't it and we know how quickly this virus can spread and it's difficult to predict then with quite a lot of the measures being eased at once what the impact that will have on the R value.

"We're also concerned about meeting all the other operational challenges ready to meet a potential rise in infections," she explained.

Dr de Gruchy said the national testing programme, the Government’s test and trace scheme must be "robust and ready", and that the personal protective equipment supply must be adequate.

"We're not feeling just yet that we're confident enough to meet any potential challenge if the Government goes too quickly on easing lockdown measures," she added.

But Mr Sharma told BBC Breakfast: "This is not a dash. These are very cautious steps that we are taking; they are phased."

Asked about the R-rate, he pointed out SAGE, the Government’s group of medical and scientific experts, had made clear the lockdown must be eased "cautiously".

The Secretary of State insisted: “That's precisely what we're doing. And what they also said is if people comply with the rules and the test and trace system is up and running, which it has been since Thursday, then there is a good likelihood that we will not breach the R value factor above one."

In just two weeks’ time, non-essential retail in England is set to reopen its doors.

This morning, Associated British Foods[ABF], which owns Primark, said it was working to reopen all its 153 stores in England on June 15.

It said it was awaiting further guidance regarding stores in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland but expected reopenings across the rest of the UK in "late June".

ABF shut all its Primark stores in March in the face of the coronavirus outbreak, resulting, it said, in a loss of around £650 million for every month its stores had been closed.