Boris: We May Need To Wait For Our Freedom

With Indian variant now dominant, PM warns of delay to lifting all rules

- Hanna Geissler

FREEDOM Day hung in the balance last night as Boris Johnson warned: “We may need to wait.”

Cases of Covid’s Indian variant more than doubled in a week to become the dominant strain.

All rules were due to end on June 21 and although the Prime Minister did not “see anything currently in the data” to scrap that date, he cautioned: “Don’t forget the important point about the intervals between the steps of the roadmap. We put that five weeks between those steps to give us time to see what effect the unlockings are having.”

He added: “We may need to wait” for more data before deciding on lifting the restrictions.

One top Government adviser warned: “It’s early days but it doesn’t look particularly good.”

The latest strain of coronavirus is now dominant in the UK, with almost 7,000 cases, said Health Secretary Matt Hancock yesterday.

The variant may account for up to three-quarters of all new infections; overall cases are also rising.