Hope and confusion after Johnson's speech

People in the northern English city of Leeds watched UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson's speech on Sunday evening and reacted with a mixture of hope and confusion.

In the speech, the UK government switched from telling workers to stay at home to urging them to return to work - but preferably without getting near other people or using public transport.

In a televised statement on Sunday, Johnson extended most of the draconian restrictions on daily life imposed on March 23 to slow the spread of the coronavirus, including closing schools, restaurants and most shops.

He also sketched out how the lockdown will be eased in stages if the number of infections in the UK continues to fall.

Property agent Faji Karim said the speech was very motivating and passionate but he believed the lockdown restrictions should have stayed as they were.

"For every decision they make there are going to be complications. And I'm just thinking, God forbid, let's just say if the coronavirus is going to get worse we don't want to be back into a lockdown again and then the general public are going to start protesting," Karim said.

Leeds mother Sadif Namji added: "Going into lockdown there were mixed messages, during lockdown there was inconsistency, and today I was hoping to get a bit more clear cut information, but again we've got ambiguity."

Others complained that there was no detail in the speech.

Britain’s official coronavirus death toll stands at almost 32,000, the highest in Europe and the second-highest in the world after the United States.

While the number of new deaths and infections is falling, Johnson said it would be “madness” to loosen restrictions so much that there is a second spike in coronavirus cases.

But he made a dramatic shift in tone on the economy, saying “anyone who can’t work from home, for instance those in construction or manufacturing, should be actively encouraged to go to work.”

He said workplaces should observe social distancing and people should avoid public transport if possible, traveling “by car or even better by walking or bicycle.”

Critics said the advice was confusing, hard to follow and potentially dangerous - especially in big cities where most people do not own cars and where subways are operating at a fraction of their usual capacity.