Johnson says England lockdown easing driven by data

Today’s Downing Street briefing once again saw a more cautious PM, in stark contrast to Boris Johnson’s jubilant response as previous lockdowns have been eased.

The Prime Minister talked about an emotional day as schools in England reopened. But he reiterated that this is being driven by the data as he pointed out that the numbers of people in hospital are still eight times higher than the lows of last September.

The latest 24 hour government figures show a further 65 people are reported to have died with Covid. Reported death figures usually are lower following a weekend. The UK total now stands at 124,566.

There have been another 4,712 new cases in the UK. Some 164,000 people received their first dose of the Covid vaccine yesterday and 22.3 million people have now received their first dose of a vaccine.