'Pandemic is far from over': PM Johnson unveils plan to ease virus curbs in England

UK PM Boris Johnson while addressing a press conference in London said that the pandemic is far from over although he added that by July 19 every adult would have got their first vaccine dose.

The UK PM set out the final plan to ease restrictions with the country set to allow all businesses to reopen including nightclubs.

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"There could be 50,000 cases detected per day by July 19 again," the UK PM cautioned while announcing that the one-metre social distancing rule will be withdrawn.

Citizens will no longer be asked to work from home with the vaccination drive for under-40s to be stepped up.

Britain on Monday recorded over 27,000 COVID-19 cases as the British Medical Association urged authorities to keep some restrictions in place due to a surge in coronavirus cases.

"Allowing community transmission to surge is like building new 'variant factories' at a very fast rate," University of London psychology professor, Susan Michie, said.

Johnson said the final decision will be taken on July 12. "We must reconcile ourselves sadly to more deaths from COVID-19," the prime minister said at the press conference while adding that a "balanced decision" needs to be taken.

The prime minister said the majority of those hospitalisedrecently were people who weren't vaccinated.

Johnson said people should take "personal responsibility" although there will be no legal obligation to wear a mask.

Johnson added that risks of not opening up now would be then to open in winter, "when the virus will have an advantage, or not at all this year."

The prime minister highlighted the effectiveness of the vaccine rollout while stating that over "45 million adults now having received the first dose. That is a higher proportion of the adult population of any European country except Malta."

(With inputs from Agencies)