London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Monday, Sep 01, 2025

Johnson pushes England’s Covid lockdown exit back a month amid spread of Delta variant and rising ICU rates

Johnson pushes England’s Covid lockdown exit back a month amid spread of Delta variant and rising ICU rates

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said that England will not abandon all Covid-19 restrictions this month as had been planned, due to the threat of the Delta variant of the virus and rising hospital admissions.
The lifting of the final stage of England’s so-called ‘roadmap’ out of lockdown will be delayed by four weeks to July 19, Johnson told a Downing Street Press conference on Monday.

The government will review its decision not to bring England further out of lockdown in two weeks’ time.

“Even if the link between infection and hospitalisation has been weakened, it hasn’t been severed,” Johnson said, adding that the numbers of people being admitted to intensive care units were increasing.

He said the government had faced a “difficult” decision in prolonging lockdown, but ploughing ahead with further relaxations could result in “thousands more deaths.”

The country has not met all the government’s four tests for lifting the remaining public health measures, Johnson said, explaining that it was “sensible to wait just a little longer.”

“By July 19, we will aim to have double-jabbed around two-thirds of the adult population, including everyone over 50, all the vulnerable, all frontline health and care workers, and everyone over 40 who received their first dose by mid-May,” Johnson added.

The government is concerned by the more transmissible Delta variant of coronavirus, first detected in India, which Johnson said was causing cases to grow by around 64% per week in England, with infections doubling in the worst affected areas.

Despite the continuation of lockdown, Johnson said limits on the number of people who were allowed to attend wakes and weddings would end on June 21, allowing more than 30 socially distanced guests to attend.

The PM also said the government would still pilot large-scale events such as the Euro 2020 football tournament from June, but confirmed that nightclubs would not be allowed to reopen as had been planned.

On Monday, the UK reported a further 7,742 Covid-19 cases, with the virus incidence rate up 45.5% over the past week, compared to the previous seven days.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Chinese and Indian Leaders Pursue Amity Amid Global Shifts
European Union Plans for Ukraine Deployment
ECB Warns Against Inflation Complacency
Concerns Over North Cyprus Casino Development
Shipping Companies Look Beyond Chinese Finance
Rural Exodus Fueling European Wildfires
China Hosts Major Security Meeting
Chinese Police Successfully Recover Family's Savings from Livestream Purchases
Germany Marks a Decade Since Migrant Wave with Divisions, Success Stories, and Political Shifts
Liverpool Defeat Arsenal 1–0 with Szoboszlai Free-Kick to Stay Top of Premier League
Prince Harry and King Charles to Meet in First Reunion After 20 Months
Chinese Stock Market Rally Fueled by Domestic Investors
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
Ukrainian Nationalist Politician Andriy Parubiy Assassinated in Lviv
Corporate America Cuts Middle Management as Bosses Take On Triple the Workload
Parents Sue OpenAI After Teen’s Death, Alleging ChatGPT Encouraged Suicide
Amazon Faces Lawsuit Over 'Buy' Label on Digital Streaming Content
Federal Reserve Independence Questioned Amid Trump’s Push to Reshape Central Bank
British Politics Faces Tumultuous Autumn After Summer of Rebellions and Rising Farage Momentum
US Appeals Court Rules Against Most Trump-Era Tariffs
UK Sought Broad Access to Apple Users’ Data, Court Filing Reveals
UK Bank Shares Dive Over Potential Tax on Sector
Germany’s Auto Industry Sheds 51,500 Jobs in First Half of 2025 Amid Deepening Crisis
Bruce Willis Relocated Due to Advanced Dementia
French and Korean Nuclear Majors Clash As EU Launches Foreign Subsidy Probe
EU Stands Firm on Digital Rules as Trump Warns of Retaliation
Getting Ready for the 3rd Time in Its History, Germany Approves Voluntary Military Service for Teenagers
Argentine President Javier Milei Evacuated After Stones Thrown During Campaign Event
Denmark Confronts U.S. Diplomat Over Covert Trump-Linked Influence in Greenland
Starmer Should Back Away from ECHR, Says Jack Straw
Trump Demands RICO Charges Against George Soros and Son for Funding Violent Protests
Taylor Swift Announces Engagement to NFL Star Travis Kelce
France May Need IMF Bailout, Warns Finance Minister
Chinese AI Chipmaker Cambricon Posts Record Profit as Beijing Pushes Pivot from Nvidia
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
Ukraine Finally Allows Young Men Aged Eighteen to Twenty-Two to Leave the Country
The Porn Remains, Privacy Disappears: How Britain Broke the Internet in Ten Days
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Welcome to The Definition of Insanity: Germany Edition
Just a reminder, this is Michael Jackson's daughter, Paris.
Spotify’s Strange Move: The Feature Nobody Asked For – Returns
Manhunt in Australia: Armed Anti-Government Suspect Kills Police Officers Sent to Arrest Him
China Launches World’s Most Powerful Neutrino Detector
How Beijing-Linked Networks Shape Elections in New York City
Ukrainian Refugee Iryna Zarutska Fled War To US, Stabbed To Death
Elon Musk Sues Apple and OpenAI Over Alleged App Store Monopoly
2 Australian Police Shot Dead In Encounter In Rural Victoria State
Vietnam Evacuates Hundreds of Thousands as Typhoon Kajiki Strikes; China’s Sanya Shuts Down
UK Government Delays Decision on China’s Proposed London Embassy Amid Concerns Over Redacted Plans
A 150-Year Tradition to Be Abolished? Uproar Over the Popular Central Park Attraction
×