Covid-19 in the United Kingdom: towards a postponement of final deconfinement?

In the United Kingdom, contamination is accelerating with an average of recently 7,000 new cases of coronavirus per day.

Justin Tallis AFP

Text by: RFI Follow

2 min

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Saturday, June 12, expressed his "

serious concern

" at the spread of the delta variant of the coronavirus in the United Kingdom.

Contamination cases continue to grow and the lifting of the latest anti-Covid restrictions in England is expected to be postponed.

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With our correspondent in London,

Muriel Delcroix

British scientists had been sounding the alarm for weeks at the spread of this variant, which first appeared in India.

The British government has so far refused to share their fears and especially to consider postponing the final deconfinement.

But the figures are relentless: contamination is accelerating with an average of recently 7,000 new cases per day.

About 60% more contagious than the alpha variant that appeared in England, the delta variant is now dominant in the UK, leaving Boris Johnson with no choice but to put the brakes on lifting the restrictions.

► To read also:

Towards a 3rd wave of Covid-19 in the United Kingdom?

An announcement scheduled for June 14

After a long confinement this winter, the Prime Minister was counting on a vigorous vaccination campaign across the country to keep at all costs his promise to remove all distancing measures on June 21, a date triumphantly dubbed "the day of the independence ".

He has finally admitted that it is more and more improbable and the media already believe that the postponement could be 4 weeks, that is to say until July 19.

But fearing the anger of his deputies and the frustration of a population at the end of their patience with the arrival of sunny days, Boris Johnson is now waiting for Monday to officially announce his government's decision. 

► To read also: Covid-19: the progression of the Indian variant worries in the United Kingdom

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• UK

• Coronavirus

• Confinement

• Vaccines