Covid: England lockdown rules to end on 19 July, PM confirms
2021 Jul 15th 12:53 PM
England will move to the final stage of easing Covid restrictions on 19 July, ministers have confirmed.
It means almost all legal restrictions on social contact will be removed.
But the prime minister said it was vital to proceed with "caution", warning "this pandemic is not over" .
The peak of the current wave is not expected before mid-August and could lead to between 1,000 and 2,000 hospital admissions per day, according to government scientists.
Central estimates from modellers advising the government also show that Covid deaths are expected to be between 100 and 200 per day at the peak, although there is a large amount of uncertainty.
Earlier, the health secretary told the House of Commons cases could reach 100,000 a day later in the summer but he did not believe this would put "unsustainable pressure on the NHS".
Vaccinations had created a "protective wall", which would mean we could "withstand a summer wave", Sajid Javid added.
Boris Johnson later told a Downing Street press conference that coronavirus "continues to carry risks for you and your family".
"We cannot simply revert instantly from Monday July 19 to life as it was before Covid," he said.
The prime minister added that he hoped the roadmap would be "irreversible" but "in order to have that, it has also got to be a cautious approach".
