Readers say Covid restrictions should not be lifted on June 21

In a poll which we conducted online yesterday, 60 per cent of people would prefer restrictions to continue while 40 per cent would like the country to be completely unlocked.

ALSO READ: Should all Covid restrictions be lifted on June 21?

Health Secretary Matt Hancock says ministers are 'absolutely open' to delaying the June 21 unlocking in England if the Indian variant worsens the country’s coronavirus recovery prospects.

Mr Hancock, in what will be viewed as the clearest indication yet that the target date for lifting all restrictions could slip, stressed that June 21 was a 'not before' date and that it was only 'pencilled in' as the next step out of lockdown.

The senior Government minister also implied that social distancing could continue beyond the final stage of the Prime Minister’s road map.

The comments come as Covid-19 cases have continued to surge in the UK amid reports Boris Johnson is considering delaying so-called freedom day by at least two weeks in order to allow more people to be fully vaccinated against the Indian variant.

ALSO READ: Masks and home work could stay after June 21, says Matt Hancock

The Health Secretary, pressed on whether the June 21 removal of restrictions could be postponed if the Indian variant data 'gets bad', told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show: “We are absolutely open to doing that if that’s what needs to happen.

“We said in the road map that June 21 is the date by which we would not take Step 4 before that date and that we would look at the data.

“That is exactly what we are doing, so the road map was set up in order to be able to take these sort of changes into account.”

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