Lockdown easing in England delayed to 19 July

The final stage of easing lockdown restrictions in England is to be delayed until 19 July. It means most remaining curbs on social contact will continue beyond 21 June, when they had been due to be lifted. The limit on wedding guest numbers will be removed but venues will still have to adhere to other rules.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said there would be a review after two weeks and he was "confident" the delay would not need to be longer than four weeks.

However, he told a Downing Street press conference he could not rule out the possibility the date could be pushed back further.

Scientists advising the government had warned of a "significant resurgence" in people needing hospital treatment for Covid-19 if stage four of easing the lockdown went ahead on 21 June.

It comes amid rising cases, driven by the more transmissible Delta variant, which was first identified in India.

Mr Johnson said going ahead with stage four on 21 June would mean "a real possibility" of the virus outrunning the vaccines, leading to thousands more deaths which could otherwise have been avoided.

The delay would give the NHS "a few more crucial weeks" to get people vaccinated, he said, adding that while the link between infections and hospital admissions had been "weakened" it had not been "severed".

"We will monitor the position every day and if, after two weeks, we have concluded that the risk has diminished, then we reserve the possibility of proceeding to step four and a full opening sooner," he said.

"At a certain stage, we are going to have to learn to live with the virus and to manage it as best we can," he added.

Addressing MPs in the Commons later, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the decision not to ease restrictions next week was being made with a "heavy heart" but the government's four tests for easing restrictions - one of which is that the risks are not fundamentally changed by new variants - had not been met.

He said extra testing facilities and access to vaccines would be rolled out in more areas of the country, while vaccinations would be opened up on Tuesday in England to people aged 23 and 24.

What is changing from 21 June?

* The number of guests at weddings and wakes will no longer be limited to 30

* But venues will have to adhere to social distancing and hosts will have to do a risk assessment

* Table service will be required - with six people per table - and no indoor dance floors allowed

* Care home residents will no-longer have to isolate for 14 days after returning from visits outside. Exceptions will include high-risk trips such as overnight hospital stays

Mr Johnson said two-thirds of adults would have been offered two coronavirus jabs by 19 July, including all vulnerable groups.

The gap between doses for over-40s in England will be reduced from 12 to eight weeks.

And the target to offer all adults a first dose will be brought forward to 19 July.

It comes as new analysis by Public Health England shows two doses of either the Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccine are highly effective at preventing hospital admissions from the Delta variant.

PHE said the effectiveness was comparable to against the Alpha variant which was previously dominant in the UK.

The size of a future surge in infections is uncertain because questions remain about the Delta variant, vaccines and people's behaviour once rules are relaxed.

The Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling (SPI-M) said a third wave could range from "considerably smaller than January 2021 to considerably higher".

It said even a short delay to easing the restrictions would lead to a significant drop in the number of Covid patients in hospital as more people were vaccinated and the school holidays got closer, reducing transmission.

Scientists have advised the government delaying by four weeks would reduce the peak in hospital admissions by between a third and a half.