Your World of Legal Intelligence
 United Kingdom | +44 (0) 20 7284 8080

End of lockdown could come 'two weeks early' if data continues to improve

Document Cited in Related
Vincent
Date18 June 2021
Published date18 June 2021
To the disappointment of many, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced earlier this week that the end of lockdown would be pushed back until July 19 rather than June 19 as originally planned.

This is due to the Delta variant having spread rapidly.

There will be a two-week review of the delay to take place on June 28, and the PM’s official spokesman said if data is “much better than expected”, restrictions could then be eased on Monday, July 5, reports The Mirror.

But the spokesman said this outcome was “unlikely”.

The delay came after new modelling by the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling SPI-M -a SAGE subgroup -revealed how risky scrapping all social distancing could have been.

Among the experts' worst case scenarios was that hospitalisations would reach around the peak of the first wave, when there were more than 3,000 new UK patients per day, compared to under 200 a day now.

Now, the Daily Mail reports that while ministers believe re-opening on July 19 is still the most likely scenario, the two-week review will be a 'genuine review of the data.'

A source told the publication: "The decision to delay reopening was so finely balanced – probably the most difficult decision of the whole pandemic – that the PM wanted a review point built in so that if things did change we could move sooner.

"No-one wants these restrictions in place for a day longer than necessary."

The Prime Minister's official spokesman said earlier that throwing open the economy as planned could have meant a “surge in hospitalisations which would...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT