British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has set out a cautious plan to get the nation back to work, including advice on wearing homemade face coverings.
However his attempt to lift the coronavirus lockdown prompted confusion and even satire.
"Our challenge now is to find a way forward that preserves our hard-won gains while easing the burden of lockdown," Mr Johnson told the British parliament on Monday.
"This is a supremely difficult balance."
Opposition Labour Party leader Keir Starmer said the government had been issuing conflicting guidance that did not answer the public's practical questions about going back to work.
"What the country needs at this time is clarity and reassurance, but at the moment both are in pretty short supply," he said.
Having refused for several weeks to give any indication of how it planned to start relaxing the lockdown, the government opted for a gradual release of information over 24 hours, starting with a solemn televised address by Mr Johnson on Sunday.
On Monday, the government published a 51-page document entitled "Our Plan to Rebuild: The UK Government's COVID-19 recovery strategy", followed by a series of sector-by-sector documents offering guidance to employers and workers.
The plan includes a staged undertaking to allow businesses to reopen, advice on avoiding public transport and wearing face coverings as well as a 14-day quarantine for most international arrivals.
"It is likely that COVID-19 will circulate in the human population long-term, possibly causing periodic epidemics," the plan said.
"In the near future, large epidemic waves cannot be excluded without continuing some measures."
But a wide range of critics said the details were nebulous and did not help people to know whether they should go back to work, how they would get there and how they could stay safe in the workplace.
Adding to the confusion, the leaders of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland made clear they did not share Mr Johnson's approach and rejected his new core message, "stay alert", instead sticking to the previous "stay at home" slogan.
After weeks of declining to tell the British people to wear face coverings amid contradictory scientific advice on their usefulness, the government said they should be worn in enclosed spaces where distancing is impossible.
Meanwhile, a parody of Mr Johnson's Sunday night address by comedian Matt Lucas was watched 4.5 million times on Twitter.
"So we are saying don't go to work, go to work, don't take public transport, go to work, don't go to work, stay indoors, if you can work from home, go to work," Lucas said in a tone strongly reminiscent of Mr Johnson's distinctive speech.
"And then we will or won't, something or other."
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