Boris Johnson has hinted he will slam the brakes on the plan to lift all Covid restrictions next month, saying: “We may need to wait.”
Amid growing alarm over surging infection rates and more people being taken to hospital, the prime minister said more data was needed to make the crucial decision.
“I don’t see anything currently in the data to suggest that we have to deviate from the roadmap, but we may need to wait,” he told reporters.
On the spread of the B1617.2 Indian variant of concern, Mr Johnson said: “I want to stress that we always did expect to see an increase in cases, that was always going to happen.
“What we need to understand is to what extent the vaccine programme is starting to make a real difference in interrupting the link between infection and hospitalisation and serious illness and death.”
On Monday, Professor Andrew Pollard, the head of the Oxford Vaccine Group, warned it would take “a few more weeks” for the data to prove if that link had been broken.
It was unclear if Mr Johnson was talking about waiting for more data – or waiting before scrapping all restrictions – but the uncertainty threatens his promise to make the decision on 14 July.
The caution comes after Professor John Edmunds, who sits on the Sage advisory committee, called for the 21 June date to be abandoned.
“No. At the moment it looks a little bit risky,” he said, when asked about the timetable, saying the Indian variant “is taking off in a number of places … it is concerning”.
Professor Neil Ferguson, of Imperial College London, said: “Step 4 [of the roadmap] is rather in the balance – the data collected in the next two to three weeks will be critical.
“The key issue as to whether we can go forward is: will the surge caused by the Indian variant – and we do think there will be a surge – be more than has been already planned into the relaxation measures?”
The latest government data shows an 18 per cent leap in the number of people testing positive for Covid-19 in the past week.
It also shows another 789 Covid patients were admitted to hospital in the past week – an increase of 10 per cent.
On a hospital visit, the prime minister acknowledged there are “signs of an increase in cases”, particularly of the B1617.2 Indian variant of concern.
But he said: “Don’t forget the important point about the intervals between the steps of the road map. We put that five weeks between those steps to give us time to see what effect the unlockings are having.”
