Covid: Fears over June 21 lockdown easing as experts warn vaccines give ‘false sense of security’
Will easing lockdown on June 21 be too much, too soon - ITV News Correspondent Sangita Lal has the details
Scientists are warning that further relaxations of England's Covid rules on June 21 "hang in the balance", with some calling for a delay on the final stage of unlocking.
In a bid to stay on track with Boris Johnson's roadmap, and protect against the Indian variant, ministers now want everyone over 50-years-old to receive their second dose before June 21.
On Monday, the country's largest mass vaccination centre opened at Twickenham rugby stadium - which can give up to 15,000 jabs every day.
But some scientists remain worried about a recent rise in cases and warn the UK’s vaccination programme is offering a “false sense of security” amid a mounting third wave of infections.
'It's a race between the vaccination programme and the spread of the variant' says ITV News Political Correspondent Dan Hewitt
Public health expert, Professor Linda Bauld, told ITV News: "I think June 21 is hanging in the balance, I think all of my colleagues are saying that, those of us looking at the data."
She continued: "It’s actually clear in the last day or so that the B1617.2 – one of the variants that developed in India – is now the dominant variant in England."
She added: "So, the areas where it’s rising are still a real concern and I think everyone is asking for more time."
'The Indian variant is now the dominant variant in England'
The head of the British Medical Association urged ministers to "hold off" on making a decision about June 21 until scientists had analysed the data.
Dr Chaand Nagpaul said: "The Prime Minister had pledged he would be guided by ‘data not dates’, and it’s vital that he now honours this commitment.
"Since the roadmap was announced, we have seen the emergence of a highly-transmissible new variant and significant escalation of cases - and in the last week a reversal of a downward trend into seeing increases in hospital admissions and deaths.
"A premature ending of all legal restrictions which then resulted in a surge of infections would undermine our health service’s efforts to tackle the biggest level of backlog of care it has ever faced.
"It would also add further demands on staff who are exhausted, both mentally and physically."
He added: "It’s clear that government must act with maximum caution when considering whether to go ahead with lifting restrictions on June 21.
"We cannot afford to repeat past mistakes, which would result in greater levels of serious illness and loss of lives, including adding pressures to our overstretched NHS."
Professor Ravi Gupta, a member of the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (Nervtag), warned the UK was in the grip of an “early” third wave of Covid-19 infections.
'It's a gamble that I don't think this country should be taking'
He said ministers should consider pushing back their target of scrapping all Covid measures on June 21 “by a few weeks”.
The University of Cambridge academic said there had been an “exponential growth” in the number of cases, fuelled by the more transmissible Indian variant, but that the “explosive” impact it could have was currently being masked by the high vaccination rate.
Listen to our coronavirus podcast:
More than 39 million people have now been given a first jab and a further 25.3 million have had both doses.
When asked about the possibility of a delay to freedom from restrictions, Environment Secretary George Eustice said nothing could be ruled out.
Pressed on whether businesses should prepare for a delay to the unlocking, Mr Eustice said: "I’ve said all along, as has Matt Hancock and the Prime Minister, we can’t rule anything out because we know this has been a difficult pandemic, a dynamic situation.
"We have to make that judgment a couple of weeks before.
"It will only be by then that we will see the full impact of the latest easements we made on May 17, so I know everyone wants to know what is going to happen but we can’t actually make that judgment until we see the impact."
Labour said the decision to go ahead with lockdown easing on June 21 must be a data-based decision.
Jonathan Ashworth said: "The decision to continue easing restrictions on June 21 must be taken based on data to keep people safe and prevent overwhelming the NHS. The single biggest threat to that is ministerial incompetence.
The shadow health secretary continued: "Ministers remain engulfed and distracted by internal rows and blame shifting at just the moment we need a laser like focus on this variant.
"Weak, slow decisions on border policy let this variant in, continued lack of sufficient self-isolation support and a stand off with local public health directors over vaccination policy failed to contain it.
"For June 21st to go ahead, ministers must learn from their earlier mistakes."
What are the latest figures on the UK's outbreak?
Between May 24 and 30 there were 60 deaths reported within 28 days of a positive coronavirus test, an increase of 42.9% compared with the previous seven days.
Monday also saw a further 3,383 lab-confirmed cases in the UK, with the number of cases between May 24 and May 30 – 22,474 – 26.8% higher than the previous seven days.
Leading scientific adviser Professor Adam Finn said a clearer picture was needed of the impact of the easements brought in this month before further relaxations take place.
Since May 17, two households or a maximum of six people from multiple households have been permitted to socialise indoors, including in pubs and restaurants.
Prof Finn, a member of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, said that while encouraging data has emerged in recent weeks over Covid hospital admissions in Britain, any impact on admissions brought by the easing of restrictions in May would not be known until “around about June 21 or just before that”.
"I think it’s unfortunate that everyone’s got this particular date in their head, because really what we need to do is understand how things are going and adjust accordingly,” he told ITV’s Good Morning Britain.
"This time around, we should be cautious, wait to see what’s happening, and then let everyone free, if you like, once we know for sure that that’s safe and that we can do that without having another round of lockdowns and so on."