PRIME minister Boris Johnson is set to announce a four-week delay in easing Covid restrictions today later at a press conference from Downing Street, media reports claim.
Johnson will be accompanied by the UK’s chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty and the Government’s chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance.
Reports suggest that the prime minister, UK exchequer Rishi Sunak, health secretary Matt Hancock and Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove have signed off July 19 as the earliest date when all remaining restrictions can be eased.
The delay implies that capacity limits for sports, pubs and cinemas will remain while nightclubs will stay closed.
The government may also take a “mix-and-match” approach by lifting a few restrictions instead of removing them all at once. The 30-people cap on weddings is expected to be eased despite concerns they could become ‘super-spreader’ events.
Health minister Edward Argar said couples waiting to wed are "very much" in the mind of Johnson at the moment ahead of the announcement due this evening, Daily Mail reported, implying a change in wedding rules to bring them into line with funerals.
The medical community including the British Medical Association, health experts and leaders have been calling on the government to delay the expected June 21-reopening by a few weeks so as to buy more time for vaccinating over-50s people with second doses and control the sharp rise in cases of the Delta variant across the country.
Case rates have been steadily increasing in recent weeks with “more transmissible” delta strain overcoming its predecessor, Kent strain, to become the most dominant variant in the UK. Daily case numbers were the highest on Sunday (13) since late February with 7,490 confirmed cases announced by the government with the rise seen in several areas has been linked to the delta variant.
Lancashire, Blackburn with Darwen, and Bolton continue to record the highest number of cases with Ribble Valley, Hyndburn and Burnley also reporting new cases in the past week.
There have been more than 4.5 million confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK since February last year while nearly 128,000 people have died, government figures show.
Purushottam Agrawal and Linda Hess in conversation with Sanjoy K Roy
Swaransh Mishra, Kirpal Singh Panesar and Rajvir Singh Bhachu
