COVID-19: 'Nothing in data to prevent easing lockdown', says UK PM on reopening

Despite stating earlier that his government needed to handle 'double mutant' COVID variant, first originated in India, "very carefully", UK PM Boris Johnson on Wednesday downplayed the threat of emerging B.1.617 cases as he signalled that he will go ahead with the June 21 reopening. "There is nothing in the data at the moment," UK’s PM said, adding that England’s full exit from lockdown restrictions on June 21 shall be implemented. 

As the UK announced zero COVID-19 fatalities for the first time, Johnson told a presser, "What we need to work out is to what extent the vaccination program has protected enough of us, particularly the elderly and vulnerable, against a new surge, and there I'm afraid the data is just still ambiguous." He continued, "I can see nothing in the data at the moment that means we can't go ahead with step four, or the opening up on June 21." UK PM although asserted, "but we've got to be so cautious." 

An adviser with the Boris Johnson administration and professor of medicine at the University of Oxford told BBC Radio 4 that he was encouraged by the latest data on fatalities, COVID-19 infections, and dip in the hospitalizations with a wider vaccination program. He cautioned, that if the administration now scampers down “a rabbit hole” every time that there was a new coronavirus variant that had emerged, UK would spend a long time under restrictions.

PM Johnson on Wednesday got green-light for the final stage of lockdown removal from his Labour Party officials. They said that they were ruling out nothing in June 14 meeting when they discuss the roadmap of the UK’s reopening plans for the week ahead. This will involve total removal of social contact limit and reopening of large events including the nightclubs. 

Scientist advise postpone reopening 'by a few weeks'

In an advisory to UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s administration, an Indian-origin scientist warned that the UK is in the early stages of the third wave of coronavirus and must halt reopening. Professor Ravi Gupta, a member of the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (Nervtag) advised the British Prime Minister to postpone his June 21 plans of lifting restrictions amid the imminent threat of the fresh outbreak. Gupta had earlier warned the UK that the vaccines might infuse a “false sense of security” as people let the guards down in wake of new variants spread. 

The  University of Cambridge academician told UK broadcasters that the government must postpone all COVID reopening measures for June 21 “by a few weeks” due to “exponential growth” in coronavirus cases of the variant of concerns that first originated in India. Boris Johnson's Tory government has been facing mounting pressure to reconsider the roadmap to reopening on the June 21 date, which seeks to relax the most restrictive measures in place across England.