Easing Covid limits early 'could inflate deaths and deepen recession'

Experts say government must not risk pitting the economy against public health

The lifting of coronavirus restrictions by the government could risk pitting the economy against public health, triggering a higher death toll and double-dip recession, two of the country's top economists have warned.

In a warning to ministers, Nicholas Stern, the leading climate economist and former Treasury mandarin, and Sir Tim Besley, a former rate-setter at the Bank of England, said an abrupt and premature easing of lockdown would be counterproductive in the fight to save jobs and reboot Britain's economy from the coronavirus recession.