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<p>We are committed to taking a cautious approach to easing restrictions, guided by
data instead of dates. Much of the data that has been used to inform decision making
has already been published.</p><p>It is important that we continue to take a cautious
– but irreversible – approach to re-opening. Moving too fast, too soon, risks a resurgence
in infections, hospitalisations and deaths. Whilst we are aware that there is limited
evidence of transmission in in-person teaching environments, we must not lose sight
of the risks the virus poses and must stay vigilant throughout to ensure this roadmap
provides a one-way passage to returning to a more normal life.</p><p>We have worked
extremely closely with scientists and the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies
(SAGE) to understand and model various scenarios to inform our plan that seeks to
enable us to re-open the country without putting unsustainable pressure on the NHS.
We have also examined economic and social data to get a balanced understanding of
the impacts of carefully easing restrictions. The government has also carefully considered
data on the impact of COVID-19 and lockdown on ethnic minority communities, the vulnerable,
the young, and low-income groups.</p><p>The government has taken into account all
the scientific advice and models that suggest that allowing additional indoor mixing
at an earlier stage when prevalence is higher and fewer people have been vaccinated
would result in significantly higher numbers of infections and that is why restrictions
outdoors have been eased first and restrictions on most indoor activity will remain
in place. As the number of people vaccinated increases, we anticipate being able to
take steps to ease further as more people are protected.</p><p>A wealth of data, papers
and evidence is being published at the same time as the Roadmap, to ensure transparency
on the information the government has had available to it in reaching its decisions.
This includes information from Public Health England:</p><ul><li>Information on vaccine
effectiveness of the Pfizer vaccination</li><li>A surveillance report with a more
detailed summary of the findings so far from the SARS-CoV-2 Immunity & REinfection
EvaluatioN (SIREN) study and Severe Acute Respiratory Infections Watch</li><li>A technical
paper on the SIREN analysis being published (as a pre-print) by the Lancet</li></ul><p>The
papers from SAGE include:</p><ul><li>Minutes from the last 4 SAGE meetings</li><li>Children’s
Task and Finish Group paper: ‘COVID-19 in higher education settings, 10 February 2021’</li><li>3
papers from the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling (SPI-M), with a summary
of modelling on scenarios for easing restrictions, together with the supporting papers
from modellers at Warwick and Imperial universities</li><li>A collection of papers
from SPI-M on “relaxation of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) and the re-opening
of schools”, Independent Pandemic Scientific Insights Group on Behaviours (the behavioural
experts’ sub-group of SAGE) on return to campus for the spring term and the risk of
increased transmission from student migration</li></ul>
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