Boris Johnson and his new Health Secretary Sajid Javid have confirmed their intention for July 19 to mark the end of England’s lockdown restrictions – after a one-month delay.
Javid resisted pressure from Tory MPs to bring forward the date for Stage 4 of the roadmap, but said there was “no reason” for the July 19 deadline not to be respected.
The Prime Minister signaled that the ‘terminus’ date would mean ‘come back to life as it was before Covid to the extent possible’.
In his first statement in the House of Commons since replacing Matt Hancock, Javid told MPs: “We have an enormous task left to restore our freedoms – freedoms that, except in the most extreme circumstances, no government. should never want to restrict.
“So my job is to help restore the economic and cultural life that makes this country so great while of course protecting life and our NHS. “
Javid said he spent his first day at his new job on June 27 looking at Covid data and “testing it to the limit.”
When “freedom day” was delayed from June 21, a review was announced that could have relaxed restrictions on July 5 – which ministers have now rejected.
Javid said: “Although we have decided not to advance Stage 4, we see no reason to go beyond July 19, because in truth no date we choose carries zero risk for Covid.
“We know we can’t just eliminate it, we have to learn to live with it.”
Javid hopes around two-thirds of all adults in England will have received both doses by July 19.
At 9 a.m. on June 28, there had been 22,868 more laboratory-confirmed Covid cases in the UK, the government said, the largest daily increase since January 30.
Government data up to June 27 shows that 77,038,257 Covid injections have been administered so far in the UK, of which 44,454,511 were first doses – an increase of 139,712 the day before.
Additional reports by PA.
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Source: www.bedfordtoday.co.uk
This notice was published: 2021-06-28 15:58:08