For months, the UK public has been preparing for June 21st as 'Freedom Day': when all lockdown restrictions will end. But as cases of the Delta variant increase and hospitalisations slowly begin to rise, the government is expected to delay stage four of lockdown easing - announcing a four week delay.
With that in mind, Boris Johnson's announcement today is fast-becoming the most hotly awaited lockdown announcement this year. At least, according to Google it is.
'What time is lockdown announcement today?' is a breakout search term on Google, as well as 'Will lockdown end on June 21st' and '4 week extension lockdown'.
Clearly, the people want clarifications fast about the lockdown roadmap. With that in mind, we've decided to do all that scouring for you and figure out the best possible answers for these incredibly popular questions.
What time is the lockdown announcement today?
The next Boris Johnson announcement is coming today at 6pm with the prime minister expected to announce a four-week delay to stage four of the roadmap meaning that June 21st date of social distancing and lockdown rules completely ending will become July 21st.
What is the UK roadmap out of lockdown?
Currently, we're in stage three of the Spring roadmap to easing lockdown. If stage four is delayed, we will remain with the current lockdown restrictions: meaning we will still be able to socialise indoors in groups of six and outdoors in groups of up to 30. Capacity limits will remain on sports, pubs and cinemas, and nightclubs would stay closed.
Back when the roadmap was first announced, scientists warned that the government should focus on 'data not dates' as it's important to keep track of case numbers and hospital admissions over the course of easing lockdown.
Last summer, the government largely kept to the dates they proposed when easing lockdown, despite warnings from scientists that many of them were too soon at the time - now, experts are hoping we have learned from those mistakes so that cases don't escalate so much that we would need another full lockdown in the UK.
The timeline for when certain lockdown restrictions are eased is based on how many daily cases, hospitalisations and deaths are being reported - as well as the success of the vaccination programme.
Hopefully, with Boris Johnson's announcement today, there'll soon be a clearer picture of what that means for the next stage of lockdown easing.
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