The Daily Telegraph, critical of lockdown, reported the four-week postponement of the final opening step with bitter irony: "It's July 19 ... if it is," said the front page on Tuesday.

Other papers, for which the government's caution has long gone too far, expressed themselves in a similarly depressed state.

The Daily Mail summarized Prime Minister Boris Johnson's statement on its first page in the (never-fallen) sentence: "The restrictions could go on and on."

Jochen Buchsteiner

Political correspondent in London.

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    The disappointment of many Britons over the postponement of “Freedom Day” corresponds, however, with grim approval on the part of those who viewed Johnson as too lax crisis manager from the start.

    In the left-liberal newspapers and in the opposition, the prime minister is declared responsible for the supposedly inevitable extension of the last remaining editions.

    Number of new infections doubled

    From this camp he is accused of having "rolled out the red carpet" for the Delta variant, which has now become dominant, according to the Labor Party's health policy spokesman, Jonathan Ashworth. The Labor Party criticizes Johnson for putting India - the presumed place of origin of the virus variant - too late on the red travel list. Tens of thousands of Indians had returned to Great Britain by then and thus introduced the danger, they argue. Johnson didn't cut ties with India until April 23, two weeks after Pakistan and Bangladesh were redlisted. The Labor Party accuses Johnson of deliberately delaying the appointment because he wanted to go on a trade trip to India, which eventually had to be canceled.This is vehemently contradicted in the government.

    Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove said on Tuesday that Pakistan and Bangladesh had significantly higher numbers of infections than India in early and mid-April. In addition, the delta variant had not even been defined as a worrying virus variant at this point in time.

    The spread of the delta variant is now given as the reason for delaying the last opening step. It is considered 40 to 80 percent more contagious than the so-called alpha variant, which was first discovered in Kent and caused the last wave of infections. In the hot spots of England, the number of new infections is currently doubling every week, even if the number of total infections in the Kingdom is not yet alarming. It is currently under 8,000 a day. Compared to the previous week, this is an increase of 46 percent.

    The infections no longer translate into hospital admissions and deaths in the same way as was the case with the first waves. The rapid progress in vaccination - almost 80 percent of adults are now protected with one dose and 57 percent with two doses - has "weakened" this connection, as Johnson put it on Monday. The National Health Service (NHS) is far from overloaded. The NHS announced on Tuesday that one percent of hospital beds are currently occupied by Covid patients. According to the National Statistics Bureau, 98 people died in the last week evaluated - three percent more than in the previous week.

    But the scientists advising the government fear that exponential growth in infections could “get the country into trouble”. Johnson spoke on Monday of "many thousands of lives" that could be saved if the final opening step is not taken now. In four weeks, on July 19, the number of people vaccinated twice will be so high that the balance will be different. He spoke of the "end date" - but when asked, refused to give a "cast-iron guarantee" for it. The lockdown critics, who are mainly found in Johnson's own party, now fear that the return to normality will not be possible this year.

    For many, the status quo is tolerable. In everyday life, not much is reminiscent of the pandemic. Shops and restaurants are open, the warm weather invites you to live outdoors, where there are hardly any restrictions. From Monday, weddings can again be celebrated with more than 30 guests (albeit with conditions and without dance). At the same time, a lot remains forbidden or made more difficult. Still no more than six people are allowed to sit together indoors (and also on terraces). Larger cultural and sporting events remain prohibited, with the exception of a few “pilot projects”. There is a mask requirement indoors and the distance rule everywhere. The guideline is still to work from home “if possible”.

    Above all, however, there are stricter travel regulations in force in the Kingdom than elsewhere in Europe. Apart from a few (mostly small) countries, all travel destinations, including Germany, are considered risk areas. Returnees from “red countries” have to spend ten days in a quarantine “hotel”, returnees from yellow countries in self-isolation. All travelers must have at least three official tests carried out, the costs of which amount to several hundred euros. The travel restrictions wouldn't even have been part of Freedom Day.

    It is uncertain whether they will be lifted or at least relaxed on July 19. The government hopes that by curtailing travel and by calling for people to go on vacation in their own country, it will be able to minimize the introduction of virus variants. This particularly saddened the more than 40 million vaccinated people, who face higher hurdles when traveling abroad than last summer.