UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson gives an update on the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic during a virtual press conference at 10 Downing Street in central London, UK on March 18, 2021.
Tolga Akmen
LONDON – Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on Monday a four-week delay until the next phase of reopening the UK lockdown amid a surge in the Delta variant of Covid-19, first discovered in India.
The rules for using face masks, limiting the number of people who can meet indoors and outdoors, and closing nightclubs and similar venues were due to be lifted on June 21, but that has now been postponed to July 19 Limited to six people indoors and 30 people outdoors.
Johnson said at a press conference on Monday evening that he thought it would make sense to wait a little longer.
“The way things are and the evidence I can see now. I’m confident it won’t take us more than four weeks,” he told reporters.
New figures from Public Health England show that 42,323 cases of the Delta variant of the coronavirus have now been confirmed across the UK, a 240% increase from last week, while the country’s transmission rate is at its highest level since January.
More than 70 million doses of vaccine have been given across the UK, with around 80% of the country now receiving at least one dose. However, a Public Health England newspaper in late May showed that the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines were only 33% effective against the Delta variant after a single vaccination.
New data from Monday showed much better effectiveness against the Delta variant after two doses. Public Health England said the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine is 96% effective against hospitalization after two doses and the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is 92% effective.
Johnson said Monday that the vaccination program will be accelerated yet again so that people over 40 years of age are now receiving their second dose of vaccine earlier than expected. Weddings in England are also allowed to have more than 30 guests from June 21st, a relaxation of restrictions that will be carried out as planned.
The situation will be reviewed on June 28th.
When the fourth and final stage of the government’s “roadmap” from the lockdown is implemented, all legal restrictions on social contacts will be lifted. In phase three on May 17, indoor restaurants and entertainment venues as well as domestic overnight stays and international travel were reopened, which are subject to a traffic light system.
All three previous phases of the roadmap, which gradually withdrew the strict nationwide lockdown measures from mid-December to March, have progressed as planned.
Investors didn’t seem too concerned about the potential of restrictions for another month, however, as the UK’s FTSE 100 closed around 0.3% on Monday.
“Leisure businesses could be hardest hit by a delay in the UK lockdown easing, as it requires social distancing rules to continue, which means pubs and restaurants cannot operate at full capacity,” said Russ Mold, Investment Director at the British stockbroker AJ Glocke.
“However, risk doesn’t seem to bother investors too much, perhaps because speculation suggests a delay of just four weeks, albeit during a seasonally busy time.”
Paul Dales, UK chief economist at Capital Economics, said in a research note on Monday that a four-week delay in easing final domestic restrictions will fall beyond the 21st.
“While there is a clear risk of Freedom Day being postponed again, COVID-19 is unlikely to leave big scars on the size of the economy as long as further delays can be measured in weeks instead of months,” he said.
