Coronavirus news - live: PM delays update on social distancing rules, blaming 'new threat' from India variant

The Independent

Coronavirus news - live: PM delays update on social distancing rules, blaming 'new threat' from India variant

The Independent 17/05/2021 16:11:28 Chiara Giordano and Sam Hancock

Boris Johnson has backtracked on a promise to reveal this month whether social distancing will end on 21 June, blaming the "new threat" from the Indian variant of Covid-19.

Only a week ago, the prime minister said he expected to scrap the "1 metre-plus rule" - however his spokesman pulled the deadline for setting out plans by the end of May, saying: "We can't be definitive at this point, because of the variant that has been identified."

There are mounting fears the spread of the Indian Covid-19 variant could delay the end of lockdown next month.

Professor Adam Finn, from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), has suggested it is "perfectly likely" things could turn out differently to what the government has planned for lifting all social-distancing restrictions on 21 June.

While an unnamed minister told the Politico website vaccine refusers were the "principal threat" to the planned lifting of further lockdown curbs next month.

Others experts have warned hugging is a "high-risk procedure" and that restrictions may have to be "reversed" if the new Indian variant "escapes" Covid vaccines in England.