Britain's construction sector suffered a record drop in activity during April as the coronavirus pandemic shut sites, data showed Wednesday alongside news of surging food sales at online supermarket Ocado.
The latest data showing the UK's biggest sector winners and losers from the COVID-19 outbreak comes as the Bank of England holds a regular meeting Wednesday at which it is expected to keep its main interest rate at a record-low 0.1 percent.
The BoE's policy announcements and new UK growth forecasts will be announced Thursday, ahead of Prime Minister Boris Johnson telling the country on Sunday how he plans to ease its lockdown measures.
It comes amid reports that finance minister Rishi Sunak is looking into tapering the government's furlough scheme that is paying UK workers stuck at home.
Latest government figures showed 6.3 million people are being paid up to 80 percent of their salaries, costing the taxpayer £8.0 billion ($9.8 billion, 9.0 billion euros).
On Wednesday, the closely-watched IHS Markit/CIPS UK construction purchasing managers' index showed a reading of only 8.2 in April, down from 39.3 in March and the lowest since records began in 1997. A score below 50 indicates a contraction in output.
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