England set to confirm lockout lifted amid fears of delta increase

LONDON British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to confirm on Monday that the final easing of lockdown rules in England will take place before July 19.

The move comes despite a continued increase in coronavirus cases caused by the more infectious delta variant; more than 31,000 new cases were reported in the UK on Sunday.

Johnson should, however, urge caution when reopening the country and stress that some public measures, like wearing a mask, are a matter of personal responsibility and sound decision-making. Johnson has previously said that Covid is expected to become “a virus that we are learning to live with”, like the flu.

In comments released by the government on Monday morning, Johnson said: “We are very close to the last step on our roadmap to get out of lockdown, but the plan to restore our freedoms must come with a warning.”

“While the phenomenal vaccine rollout has offered every adult some protection against the virus and the crucial link between cases, hospitalizations and deaths is weakened, the global pandemic is not yet over.”

Johnson said Covid cases would increase as the country unlocks, “as we confirm our plans today, our message will be clear. Caution is absolutely vital.”

“Freedom Day” or Stage 4 of the government’s long-term plan to ease restrictions has been moved to July 19 when it was previously scheduled for June 21.

The government said “four tests” to ease Covid restrictions must be met before easing can move forward, including looking at data to confirm vaccine rollout continues successfully and rates infection do not risk an increase in hospitalizations.

The latest data will be presented on Monday, “with current modeling suggesting that Covid cases will continue to rise as restrictions are relaxed,” the government said in a statement Monday.

“Hospitalizations, serious illnesses and deaths will also continue, although at a much lower level than before the vaccination program,” he continued.

The delay in easing restrictions came as the delta Covid variant, originally discovered in India, has spread across the country. While infection rates have increased, hospitalizations and deaths have not increased (although there has been a slight increase in these latter two data sets) indicating that coronavirus vaccines work to prevent serious infections.

The analysis suggests that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is 96% effective and that the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is 92% effective against hospitalization after two doses.

The British Covid vaccination program has been one of the fastest in the world with 87.1% of the adult population now having received a first dose of a vaccine and 66% having received two doses, government data shows.

The government said on Monday that the vaccination rollout would continue to accelerate by advancing second doses for those under 40 to eight weeks.