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Sajid Javid Confirms Covid-19 Restrictions Will Be Lifted In England On 19 July

Sajid Javid Confirms Covid-19 Restrictions Will Be Lifted In England On 19 July

The health secretary said the government 'firmly believe this is the right time to get our nation closer to normal life'

Jake Massey

Jake Massey

Sajid Javid has confirmed that Covid-19 restrictions will be lifted in England next Monday (19 July).

All legal limits on social contact will be removed, meaning capacity limits in venues such as pubs, restaurants and cinemas will be no more, and nightclubs will be allowed to reopen.

Health secretary Javid said the government 'firmly believe this is the right time to get our nation closer to normal life'.

He added: "To those who say why take this step now, I say, 'If not now then when?'"

'Freedom Day' was previously scheduled for 21 June, but it was pushed back amid a sharp rise in Covid-19 cases.

'Freedom Day' will go ahead as planned next Monday, Javid has confirmed.
PA

Now though, the government has determined that the four conditions required to move to the final stage of the roadmap out of lockdown are being met.

These conditions are as follows:

  • The vaccine deployment programme is continuing successfully.
  • Evidence shows vaccines are sufficiently effective in reducing hospitalisations and deaths in those vaccinated.
  • Infection rates do not risk a surge in hospitalisations which would put unsustainable pressure on the NHS.
  • The assessment of the risks is not fundamentally changed by new variants.

Speaking earlier today, the Boris Johnson said England is 'tantalisingly close' to restoring its freedoms - tantalisingly close clearly being the theme for the country at the moment.

He said: "We are tantalisingly close to the final milestone in our road map out of lockdown, but the plan to restore our freedoms must come with a warning.

"While the phenomenal vaccine rollout has offered every adult some protection against the virus, and the crucial link between cases, hospitalisations and deaths is weakened, the global pandemic is not over yet.

"Cases will rise as we unlock, so, as we confirm our plans today, our message will be clear.

"Caution is absolutely vital, and we must all take responsibility so we don't undo our progress, ensuring we continue to protect our NHS."

But while restrictions are being lifted, Covid-19 remains pervasive across the country, and ministers have admitted there could soon be 100,000 new cases a day.

Mask wearing will be a matter of personal choice.
PA

Dr Mike Tildesley - from the University of Warwick and a member of the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling (Spi-M) group - said the UK is at a 'really tricky phase' of the pandemic, with rising cases but 'still very low numbers of deaths and very low numbers of hospital admissions, though they are creeping up a little bit'.

He told BBC Breakfast: "I don't expect we'll see the same size of the wave as we saw back in January, but we might expect some kind of surge in hospital admissions as we move into August so really, really difficult...

"I think we need to be a little bit cautious just for a little bit of a while yet until hopefully we see these turn over and we start to see hospital admissions ultimately going down again."

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: UK News, Coronavirus, Politics, Health, Covid-19