Coronavirus restrictions may not end as planned in June

Speaking at a Downing Street press briefing this afternoon, Boris Johnson has warned that the Indian coronavirus variant could “pose a serious disruption” to plans to ease restrictions and “could make it more difficult” to end them as hoped in June.

The Prime Minister told the Downing Street press conference: “I do not believe that we need, on the present evidence, to delay our road map and we will proceed with our plan to move to step three in England from Monday.

“But I have to level with you that this new variant could pose a serious disruption to our progress and could make it more difficult to move to step four in June."

Mr Johnson said that if the Indian variant proves to be “significantly more transmissible” than other strains “we’re likely to face some hard choices”.

The Prime Minister told the Downing Street press conference: “I’m told that if it is only marginally more transmissible we can continue more or less as planned but if the variant is significantly more transmissible we’re likely to face some hard choices.”

But he said there is “no evidence to suggest that our vaccines will be less effective in protecting people against severe illness and hospitalisation”.

As things stand, Step 4 the Government's roadmap out of lockdown will take place no earlier than June 21, and they had hoped to be in a position to remove all legal limits on social contact.

Boris Johnson has said that remaining second doses for the over-50s will be accelerated so they come eight weeks after the first.

The Prime Minister told the Downing Street press conference: “I believe we should trust in our vaccines to protect the public whilst monitoring the situation as it develops very closely because the race between our vaccination programme and the virus may be about to become a great deal tighter and it’s more important than ever therefore that people get the protection of a second dose.

“So following advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation we will accelerate remaining second doses to the over-50s and those clinically vulnerable right across the country so those doses come just eight weeks after the first dose.”

Boris Johnson added: “We will also prioritise first doses for anyone eligible who has not yet come forward including the over 40s.”

Boris Johnson has urged people to “think twice” ahead of travelling to areas with higher incidences of the Indian variant and staying with family and friends within those areas.

The Prime Minister told the Downing Street press conference: “I would urge people just to think twice about that.

“We want people in those areas to recognise that there is extra risk, an extra threat of disruption to progress caused by this new variant and just to exercise their discretion and judgment in a way I’m sure that they have been throughout this pandemic.”

Chief medical officer (CMO) Professor Chris Whitty described the number of people who are testing positive for Covid-19 in the UK as “on a steady downward path and is stable” in terms of the overall numbers.

There is also a “steady decrease” in the numbers of people who are in hospital.

He said the number who have died following a Covid test has been steadily decreasing with the most recent seven-day average standing at seven deaths a day.

Prof Whitty said that Bolton is not the only place which has the new variant as it is “quite widely seeded in a number of parts of England and indeed elsewhere in parts of the four nations of the United Kingdom”.

The rates in Bolton, which had been going down, have been going up “very significantly over the last couple of weeks.”

He told a Downing Street press conference that, importantly, the rates in people aged over 60 have not been going up, which is key as it tends to correlate with the number of people going into hospital, some people become severely ill and those who die.

He added that “this may be a delay or the vaccine is helping to protect those who are older and who are vaccinated”.