LONDON : The UK government is preparing to formally extend the initial three-week strict social distancing measures imposed last month to try and curb the rapid spread of the coronavirus pandemic as the country's death toll from COVID-19 crosses 12,868.
UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, who is standing in for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson as he recuperates after testing positive for the virus, will chair a crucial meeting of the Cabinet Office Briefing Rooms (Cobra) on Thursday during which the Cabinet will finalise the plans for an extension.
Ministers have already indicated in their daily Downing Street briefings this week that an extension to the lockdown measures, likely to be for another three weeks, is inevitable. "We can see