COVID-19: Will the final step in the easing of the June 21 lockdown be suspended: here’s what the data says | UK Video News

The government told us it would be a matter of data, not dates. But so far, every step of England’s reopening has been precisely in line with the dates Boris Johnson set in February.

Indeed, in a sense COVID-19[female[feminine the policy appears to be more closely based on a defined timeframe than at any other time during the pandemic.

But is that about to change? Because there are warning lights – which do not flash red, but still flash – that could make the government think about the final end of the lockdown on June 21.

Now, when the government presented its plans a few months ago, it said any decision about whether to reopen in the future will be based on four tests, which we are going to go through now.

Before doing so, however, it should be pointed out that despite everything the government insists that this is an empirical process, it has been very vague on the thresholds or levels of data that the would worry.

In other words, we can make guesses about things that might trigger a decision, but they are still guesses because the government has never explained what types of data points would be in line with its plans.

Indeed, you could argue, on a careful reading of its tests, that it should have already suspended reopening some time ago due to the ramp-up of the Delta variant.

With that said, let’s go through these tests in turn.

1. “The vaccine deployment program continues successfully”

Here, the evidence is promising. Based on data modeled by the Office for National Statistics, the proportion of adults who now test positive for antibodies to the virus is close to 80% in much of the UK.

The proportion who received their first dose is also at a similar level, while the proportion who received …