The United Kingdom (UK) government is around three weeks from releasing the tool it says is essential to easing the current coronavirus lockdown, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said, in a sign current restrictions are likely to largely continue until at least the second half of May.

The government has said it sees a test, track and trace system as the way to ensure that Covid-19 infections don’t take off again as the lockdown is eased. That requires the recruitment of 18,000 contact tracers to identify people who might have been exposed to the virus, as well as the release of a mobile phone app that will do part of that job automatically.

“ We hope to have the contact tracers in place before or at the same time as the app goes live. We’re expecting that to be ready by the middle of May. They will help us to keep new cases down,” Hancock told the daily virus news conference Tuesday.

Boris Johnson’s government is under pressure from business and his own Conservative Party’s members of Parliament to begin unfreezing the UK economy. They warn of permanent damage if he waits too long. But he said Monday he fears an economic disaster if the virus takes off again after people start mixing.

France said Tuesday it would start lifting restrictions in early May, and Spain set out an eight-week program to move to a new normal.

The UK government has announced unprecedented measures to support businesses and pay workers to stay at home with the goal of allowing the economy to restart with as little damage as possible, but its not always enough. On Tuesday evening, IAG SA said it would slash the work force at its flagship British Airways by almost 30 per cent -- 12,000 jobs.

Hancock said the tools for a return to normal life were the app, the contact tracers, and sufficient testing capacity. He said the UK was on course to hit his target of 100,000 tests a day by the end of April. On March 12, a lack of capacity meant that the government abandoned attempts to test for the disease in the community, making it hard to see how widespread it is.

Any moves away from lockdown are likely to be gradual, and ministers have been clear that businesses that encourage socializing -- pubs, cafes and restaurants -- would be likely to be last out.

Government modeling documents published in March assumed lockdown measures would likely be in place for eight to 13 weeks. The UK is currently five weeks in, and the full 13 weeks would take it to late June.

Clarified advice

But there are signs that government ministers fear too many people have stayed home in the current lockdown. Hancock announced Tuesday that anyone with a family member whose job required them to leave the house would now qualify for virus testing if they developed symptoms.

That was a reminder that the government does expect people who are not key workers to keep going to work if they can. Allowing them to access tests may help with that. Earlier, the government clarified its advice to say non-essential stores such as garden centres can open if they operate click-and-collect services.

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