Downing Street have confirmed that on February 22nd “we will set out a gradual and phased approach towards easing the restrictions in a sustainable way.”
The announcement comes as some Conservative MPs raised concerns that the timetable may have slipped and lockdown easing delayed.
The Downing Street spokesperson continued “The latest data and evidence clearly shows that we remain in a difficult situation with the pressure on the NHS still very significant.
“We keep the latest data and evidence under constant review and on February 22nd we will be setting out our plan to reopen schools and gradually reopening our economy and society.”
This news comes as the latest estimated data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows that one in 80 people in England had Covid-19 between January 31st and February 6th – the equivalent of 695,400 people.
Meanwhile, Government data up to February 11th shows that 14,542,318 vaccination doses have been administered so far including 14,012,224 first doses – a rise of 503,116 on the previous day, and 530,094 second doses, an increase of 5,647.
The seven-day rolling average of first doses given in the UK is now 434,350.
Based on the latest figures, an average of 329,259 first doses of vaccine would be needed each day to meet the Government’s target of 15 million first doses by February 15th.
