No firm decision to end lockdown on June 21, British Health Minister
British health ministry sources stated that the ending of lockdown on June 21 is not confirmed as yet owing to the renewed increase in COVID-19 cases after the introduction of the Indian variant in the country which is now the dominant strain in England but they are hopeful for the ending of lockdown sooner after a broadly flat rate of hospitalizations and deaths.
British health minister Matt Hancock said on Sunday that it was too early to say whether the government would stick to its plan to fully lift COVID-19 lockdown restrictions in England on June 21.
Hancock highlighting “It’s too early to make a final decision on that,” Hancock told Sky News.
“The prime minister and I and the team will be looking at all the data over this week. We’ve said that we’ll give people enough time ahead of the June 21 date.
“We are not saying ‘No’ to June 21 at this point,” he added.
Hancock said it was important that people receive both doses of COVID-19 vaccines as the data showed this could protect effectively against the delta (Indian) variant.
Earlier last week, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he could see nothing in the data that would upset the plan to end lockdown restrictions, although caution was needed.