British government declares ‘Freedom Day’ on 19 July

LONDON, June 28 (Reuters) – The United Kingdom will lift most of the remaining COVID-19 restrictions on July 19 in what it calls a “dealer”. “Independence Day,” the government said on Monday. Despite fears that the rising number of coronavirus cases could lead to more deaths .

Prime Minister Boris Johnson, whose government came under control again following the resignation of Health Secretary Matt Hancock for violating restrictions by kissing his aides. It hoped to unlock the UK economy last week.

But with the increasing number of coronavirus cases, largely driven by more contagious delta variants. The government has postponed the date until 19 July amid criticism from businesses wanting to end the lockdown in an effort to make amends. Read more

“Every day that passes It became clear to me and to all our scientific advisers that we would be in a position for July 19 to really say that it was a destination. And we can go back to living like before there was covid, like as far as possible,” Johnson told reporters.

Sajid Javid, Hancock’s representative. confirm the decision in parliament He said he had spent the first day working studying the data to see if the next step of easing the restriction, known as step four, could be continued earlier.

“While we decided not to proceed with the fourth step, We see no reason to go beyond July 19,” he told parliament. and urged the public to abide by the restrictions now.

“July 19 is still our target date. The Prime Minister called it our end date. For me, July 19 is not just the end. But it is the beginning of an exciting new journey for our country.”

vaccination

united kingdom who have died from COVID-19 One of the most official is seeing the number of patients increase again. with more than 10,000 daily increases in the past few days. But officials say the mass vaccination campaign has weakened the link between cases and deaths. Read more

Some officials feared the public might start breaking the rules after the Sun newspaper published pictures of Hancock kissing and hugging his office assistant at a time when hugging anyone outside their home was in conflict. statute

Initially, Johnson said on Friday he thought the matter was closed after Hancock publicly apologized. But on Saturday, he accepted his resignation, although he explained that he regretted receiving the resignation letter. Read more

“I read about it on Friday. And we got a new health minister in the post on Saturday. And I think that’s the right moment to deal with the epidemic,” he said.

Reporting by Michael Holden; Edited by Kate Holton

Our Standard: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles