Ministers face a ‘big question’ over whether England’s June 21 Freedom Day can go ahead, Matt Hancock said today – amid claims it could be pushed back a fortnight.
The Health Secretary made positive noises today about the link between cases and people going to hospital being loosened by vaccines as the Indian variant drove infections to more than 6,000 a day on Friday.
He told Sky today that vaccines would be rolled out to under 30s this coming week, saying the jabs are the ‘way we can get out of this and restore our freedoms’.
But he was cautious over when that freedom might come, as he confirmed that the Indian variant is 40 per cent more transmissible than the previously dominant Kent variant.
Last night it was reported that plans are being made to push the lifting of coronavirus measures back to July 5, to allow more people to get the second dose of Covid vaccinations.
Mr Hancock said that ministers would be looking at the latest data over the necxt week before makign a decision on June 14.
Asked on the BBC’s Andrew Marr programme if Freedom Day could be delayed past June 21 if the data on cases and hospitalisations ‘turned bad’ in the next week, Mr Hancock said: ‘We are absolutely open to doing that, if that is what needs to happen.
‘We have said in the roadmap that the 21st of June is the date by which we would not take step 4 before that date and we would look at the data. That is exactly what we are doing.’
The Health Secretary made positive noises today about the link between cases and people going to hospital being loosened by vaccines as the Indian variant drove infections to more than 6,000 a day on Friday.
England’s ‘Freedom Day’ on June 21 may be delayed for two weeks by Boris Johnson, it was reported on Saturday. According to ITV News, government sources have said that plans are being made to push the lifting of coronavirus measures back to July 5 to allow more people to get the second dose of Covid vaccinations
Mr Hancock told Sky today: ‘This week we will be opening up vaccines to the under 30s and so we are getting a step closer to the point where we have been able to offer the vaccine to all adults in this country.
‘Then once we have got everybody having had their second dose of course, then you get this protection that we are seeing at the moment among older people, you get that protection among the whole adult population.
‘That way we can get out of this and restore our freedoms. But the timing of the exactly when we can take that step is the big question.
‘We are not saying no to the 21st of June at this point we will keep watching the data for another week and critically watching that link from the number of cases to the number of people who end up in hospital.
‘It’s absolutely true the number of people ending up in hospital is broadly flat at the moment, while the number of cases is rising, showing that that link is not absolute as it once was.’
It was reported on Friday that secret plans were being worked on to delay the lifting of measures by two weeks in addition to retaining social distancing and limits of crowds past Freedom Day.
And last night ITV confirmed the same reports. It came after a government scientist warned that pushing ahead with a full reopening later this month in England would be ‘foolish’ and a ‘major risk’, which followed Covid cases jumping by 70 per cent in a week on Saturday, reaching 5,765. However, health chief insisted vaccines do ‘break the chain’.
There is currently enough evidence to say that due to the spread of the Indian variant, one of the Government’s four key tests for its road map out of lockdown has not been met, Professor Stephen Reicher said.
Multiple reports have suggested plans to lift all restrictions on June 21 could be scaled down, with social distancing and the wearing of face coverings set to continue amid concerns that the variant that originated in India, now known as Delta, is fuelling a surge in cases.
On Friday the UK recorded its highest number of new confirmed coronavirus cases – 6,238 – since late March, according to official figures. Saturday’s figure was down slightly at 5,765 lab-confirmed cases.
Meanwhile figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) suggested the number of people who had the virus in England has increased by around three-quarters in a week, taking it to its highest tally since mid-April, with the R value between 1 and 1.2.
Prof Reicher, a member of the Scientific Pandemic Insights Group on Behaviours (Spi-B) which advises the Government, said the criteria about the current assessment of the risks not being fundamentally changed by new variants of concern is ‘not upheld’.
‘I think by the Government’s own criteria it’s quite clear that it would be foolish to proceed on the data that we’ve got at the moment. The risk would be very great indeed,’ the professor told the PA news agency.
‘And of course it’s a balance of risks but I think it would be a major risk to go further in opening up.’
He added: ‘Again, I make the point that it is about data not dates, and if you make it too much about the dates then you box yourself into a corner and I think that’s what the Government has done.’
A UK Government spokeswoman said ‘no decision’ had been made on whether to ease all coronavirus restrictions on June 21, amid reports Boris Johnson could delay the move by at least a fortnight.
‘As the Prime Minister has set out, we can see nothing in the data at the moment to suggest that we need to deviate from the roadmap,’ said the spokeswoman.
‘We continue to look at the data and the latest scientific evidence and no decision on Step 4 has yet been made.’
Professor Reicher’s comments come as more surge testing is to be rolled out in another part of the country amid community spread of the Delta variant, with everyone aged 12 and above in some postcodes in Reading and Wokingham offered PCR testing from Monday.
Hundreds of young people queued outside the Hunter Street Health Centre in London this afternoon despite the glorious weather so they could receive a Covid-19 jab
Many of the young people queuing up for their jabs were students attending universities across London
The government is now urging young people to come forward and get vaccinated as they are now at the highest risk of infection due to the high levels of compliance among older generations
Saturday was the third day in a row cases have exceeded 5,000. But last weekend was a bank holiday, which may have reduced the number of cases and deaths being recorded, boosting week-on-week growth rates.
Thirteen more Covid deaths were also reported — rising 85.7 per cent on last Saturday’s figure — though numbers are still so low fluctuations are expected week-on-week.
Meanwhile, Britain’s vaccine roll-out has continued at pace, with 174,535 first doses dished out across the UK yesterday, taking the country’s total to 40.1million.
Some 360,691 second doses were also given out, meaning nearly 27.2million people are fully vaccinated in the country (51.6 per cent).
Chief executive of NHS Providers Chris Hopson said the number of people in hospital with the Indian ‘Delta’ variant was not increasing ‘very significantly’.
And many of those in hospital in Bolton — which has the highest number of cases of the Indian variant in England — were younger than in previous waves of the pandemic therefore less at risk of serious complications, he added.
Last night it was announced that all over-12s in areas of Berkshire will be subject to surge Covid testing in a bid to tackle a community outbreak of the Indian strain.
Director of public health for Berkshire West, Meradin Peachey, said the surge in cases is mainly among young people, with ‘virtually nobody over 60 or anyone who has been vaccinated’ affected.
And in London today, pictures showed long lines of over-18s queuing to get their first dose of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine at Belmont Health Centre in Harrow.
A similar drive took place at the Hunter Street Health Centre in Camden where huge crowds of young people gathered for the sought-after jab.
It follows a one-off event at Twickenham Stadium last weekend which saw officials attempt to shift 15,000 Pfizer doses to anyone aged over 18 – with huge queues snaking along the tarmac for miles.
Mr Hopson’s assessment echoes that of Matt Hancock who yesterday cautioned that the link between Covid cases and deaths has been ‘broken but not completely severed’ by vaccines – as the number of positive tests spiked again to 6,238 and 11 more deaths were recorded.
The Health Secretary was speaking at a meeting of G7 health ministers in Oxford on Friday when he said: ‘We always expected cases to rise as the as the country was opened up, the critical thing is the impact on the number of people who end up in hospital for any given number of cases. That link has been broken by the vaccine, but it hasn’t been completely severed yet.’
Today, pictures showed long lines of over-18s queuing to get their first dose of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine at Belmont Health Centre in Harrow
A similar drive took place at the Hunter Street Health Centre in Camden where huge crowds of young people gathered for the sought-after jab
At the Hunter Street Health Centre in Camden, huge groups rushed to get the vaccine on Saturday
The long queues in Harrow (pictured) follow a one-off event at Twickenham Stadium last weekend which saw officials attempt to shift 15,000 Pfizer doses to anyone aged over 18 – with huge queues snaking along the tarmac for miles
People queuing to go into Belmont Health Centre in Harrow which is offering a first dose of Pfizer coronavirus vaccine to anyone aged over 18 on Saturday and Sunday
Queues snaked along the pavement in Harrow today where huge groups of over-18s queued to get their vaccines
Chief executive of NHS Providers Chris Hopson said the number of people in hospital with the Indian ‘Delta’ variant was not increasing ‘very significantly’
Public Health England data show that just 0.07 per cent of confirmed Indian variant cases were admitted to hospital despite having had two doses of a vaccine, compared to 0.95 per cent of unvaccinated people. Significantly more unvaccinated people also went to A&E or died after catching the virus. Having had a single dose of a jab offered middling protection but experts say that now the Indian strain is dominant it is crucial that people get both jabs
Figures published on Thursday night showed that just seven out of 9,427 people to have been infected with the new strain by the end of May were admitted to hospital – even though they had had two doses of a vaccine (0.07 per cent).
By comparison, 90 unvaccinated people were admitted in the same time (0.95 per cent) and PHE warned in a report that the risk of admission to hospital with the new strain may be 2.6 times higher than it was for the Kent variant, meaning that people who haven’t had a jab are now at a higher risk than they were with previous strains.
The Government is scrambling to get jabs to as many people as possible. Last night it was reported that ministers plan to cut wait times between Covid-19 vaccination doses for over 40s from twelve weeks to eight weeks as ministers battle to save ‘Freedom Day’ on June 21.
Britons seeking to avoid being forced into self-isolation upon their return to the UK have been queuing up for Covid-19 tests outside Faro Airport in the Algarve today
Transport secretary Grant Shapps announced that from 4am on Tuesday Portugal would be placed on the UK’s amber list, wrecking the holiday plans of thousands of Britons
Shapps claimed the move was necessary as the level of Covid-19 infection was growing in Portugal, though the decision was criticised by the travel industry and the government in Lisbon
Those aged under 30 will be invited to book their coronavirus vaccine jabs this week, the Health Secretary has confirmed.
Matt Hancock told Sky News’ Trevor Phillips On Sunday: ‘This week we will be opening up vaccines to the under-30s and so we are getting a step closer to the point when we have been able to offer the vaccine to all adults in this country.
‘Then, once we have got everybody having had their second dose, then you will get this protection that we are seeing at the moment among older people, you’ll get that protection throughout the whole adult population.’
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