THE UK must prepare for the “real risk” of a second wave of the coronavirus, health leaders have warned all party leaders, as dates for a raft of lockdown easing measures have been unveiled in Scotland and England.

Nicola Sturgeon yesterday announced provisional dates for the re-opening of beer gardens, hotels, museums and hairdressers next month, while non-essential shops can open their doors in Scotland from Monday.

Boris Johnson announced that England was beginning to end its “long national hibernation” with pubs, cinemas and restaurants among the venues that will be permitted to open up again on

July 4.

But a joint letter from the heads of Britain’s medical royal colleges to all party leaders in the UK, published in the British Medical Journal yesterday, says “substantial challenges” remain should the UK be confronted with a second widespread outbreak of Covid-19.

It urges Johnson, Sturgeon and the other party leaders to make sure Britain is “adequately prepared” for a second phase. The letter has been signed by leaders including the presidents of the Royal College of Surgeons, Royal College of Physicians, Royal College of General Practitioners and the Royal College of Nursing.

“The available evidence indicates that local flare-ups are increasingly likely and a second wave a real risk. Many elements of the infrastructure needed to contain the virus are beginning to be put in place, but substantial challenges remain. The job now is not only to deal urgently with the wide-ranging impacts of the first phase of the pandemic, but to ensure that the country is adequately prepared to contain a second phase,” says the letter.

It goes on to call for a review into the UK’s handling of Covid-19, which it says needs to happen soon if the public is to have confidence that the virus can be contained.

“The review should not be about looking back or attributing blame. Rather it should be a rapid and forward looking assessment of national preparedness,” it adds.

They suggest the review should not be handled by Westminster committees but by a cross-party commission, establishing “a constructive, non-partisan, four nations approach”.

Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard raised the risk of a second wave of the virus at First Minister’s Questions yesterday. Sturgeon said Leonard was right to warn of the risk.

She added: “I spend much of my time in advising and warning people that the virus has not gone away, and that we face a real risk of the resurgence of the virus. I do not like the phrase ‘second wave’, because it presupposes that we are out of the first wave, or that somehow it lies in the future.

“That risk is there and will be there all the time, and we must guard against it. Everything that we do right now, therefore, from the pace of coming out of lockdown, through the care that we are taking over all those decisions, to the continued building of test and protect, is all about avoiding that.”