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22 May 2020updated 06 Oct 2020 9:45am

Downing Street hints that London could leave lockdown faster that other parts of country

By Samuel Horti

London mayor Sadiq Khan and Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick will lead a “transition board” dedicated to guiding the capital through the coming months as lockdown is lifted, the government has announced.

The board will comprise leaders from across the city, and will remain in place until 2021.

The announcement came as Downing Street did not rule out easing lockdown measures in London faster than other parts of the country. Around 17 per cent of people in London have coronavirus antibodies, according to a government study, compared to around 5 per cent in the rest of the country. The reproduction rate of the virus is also lower in London.

“As we are able to gather more data and have better surveillance of a rate of infection in different parts of the country then we will be able to lift measures quicker in some parts of the country than in others,” the Prime Minister’s spokesman said this afternoon in a response to a question about London.

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