U.K.’s Boris Johnson Delays End of England’s Lockdown as Cases Surge

• Prime Minister Boris Johnson pushed back his plan to lift England’s coronavirus restrictions for at least another four weeks to try to prevent “thousands” more deaths and a surge in hospitalizations.  
• The government was forced to act after modeling showed hospital admissions could reach similar levels to the pandemic’s first wave of infections in spring 2020 -- a peak of 3,099 a day -- if Johnson stuck to his schedule to end social-distancing rules on June 21. 
• In a televised press conference on Monday, Johnson said he had no choice but to delay his plan until July 19 at the earliest, to allow more people to get their second vaccine dose. 
• The government is expected to put the delay to a debate and vote on Wednesday in Parliament, where Johnson is likely to face anger from Conservative colleagues for backtracking on what they dubbed “Freedom Day.” 
• Covid cases have been rising rapidly, fueled by the highly transmissible delta variant first identified in India. It’s now dominant in Britain. Infections in England are growing 70% every week nationally, Johnson’s spokesman, Max Blain, told reporters on Monday, and in around a third of the country, they are doubling every week. That’s pushing up hospital admissions by 15% week-on-week, and by 66% in northwest England.

(Source: Bloomberg)