Covid: Boris Johnson says England may need to wait to end restrictions

Boris Johnson has said "we may need to wait" for the lifting of all Covid restrictions in England, which is currently planned for 21 June.

The PM said he saw nothing "currently in the data" to suggest the government would have to delay unlocking.

But he said there were signs of an increase in the number of cases of the Indian variant.

It comes after epidemiologist Prof Neil Ferguson said the reopening of society is now "in the balance".

On Thursday, a further 3,542 coronavirus cases and 10 deaths within 28 days of a positive test were reported in the UK.

Over the last seven days, cases are up 20.5% compared with the week before.

'Vaccine shield'

On 21 June, the government hopes to move to the final stage of its roadmap for lifting lockdown.

Step four would see all legal limits on social contact removed, nightclubs would reopen, and restrictions on large events and performances would be lifted.

Scientists advising the government are currently studying all relevant data since the last set of lockdown relaxations on 17 May.

Speaking on a visit to a hospital this morning, Mr Johnson said: "I think the question people want to answer is to what extent is our vaccine shield now going to be enough to allow us to go ahead with 21 June with the unlocking.

"Now, as I've said many times, I don't see anything currently in the data to suggest we have to deviate from the roadmap but we may need to wait."

The prime minister said it was important to understand to what extent the vaccine programme "interrupts the link" between infection, hospitalisation, serious illness and death.

However, he reiterated that vaccines in use in the UK work against the Indian variant, particularly with two doses.

There are the early signs infection levels are rising.

For the second day in a row the number of new Covid cases has topped 3,000.

This comes after cases have been consistently below 3,000 a day since mid-April.

This is not unexpected. Government scientists had always made clear that infection levels would increase as restrictions ease.

And allowing indoor mixing was always the move that would have the most upward pressure.

What matters now is how fast and high they rise - and what impact that has on the numbers ending up seriously ill and dying.

Ministers like to say the vaccination programme has broken the link between cases and hospitalisations.

But in truth it is more a case that it will have weakened it. By how much, we don't know.

The picture is complicated by the rise of the Indian variant, which is considered to be more infectious. A very rapid rise in infection levels could cause problems.

There are, however, plenty of reasons to be hopeful - the vaccination programme is well advanced and infection levels are still among the lowest in Europe.

But the last year has shown us we should take nothing for granted with this virus.

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Prof Ferguson, whose modelling was crucial to the decision to go into the first lockdown in March 2020, said experts were still concerned about the transmissibility of the so-called Indian variant.

Data seems to show it is easier to catch than the UK's other main variant - the one first identified in Kent - but scientists are still determining by how much.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "The key issue as to whether we can go forward is: will the surge caused by the Indian variant... be more than has been already planned into the relaxation measures?"

He added that it had always been expected that relaxing the rules would lead to "a surge in infections, and to some extent a small third wave of transmission".

Two weeks ago, Mr Johnson said the Indian variant could pose "serious disruption" to unlocking if it were found to be significantly more transmissible.

Earlier, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said it was too early to say whether restrictions could ease on 21 June.

He said the decision on unlocking then would be announced exactly one week ahead of the changes.

"We will be both driven by the data, we will be advised on and guided by the science, and we will be fully transparent," he told MPs in the House of Commons.

Mr Hancock was answering questions in Parliament following claims from the prime minister's former aide Dominic Cummings that he lied to colleagues about dealing with Covid in care homes.

The health secretary dismissed the allegation as "unsubstantiated" and "not true".

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