Secret plan to delay lockdown lift by TWO WEEKS but Boris Johnson is battling to save June 21 freedom day

PUB giants and football fans have urged PM Boris Johnson to stay firm on his pledge to lift lockdown on June 21.

Their battle cry came amid fears that any delays could plunge England’s hosting of the Euros into chaos.

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Ministers and officials are working on contingency plans to move “Freedom Day” to next month, as well as retaining distancing and limits on fans in stadiums.

But World Cup 1966 winner George Cohen, 81, said: “Boris has to stick with June 21. Our boys need those England fans in the pubs and in the stadiums.

“It gave us such a boost in 1966 and it’ll give them a huge boost again. What’s the point of home advantage if our fans can’t roar us to the final.”

The tournament starts on Friday, with the Three Lions’ first game against Croatia next Sunday.

The final group game against Czech Republic is on June 22 and would allow pubs to fill to pre-Covid levels and repeat the scenes of Euro 1996, also held in England.

By the time Wembley hosts the Euros semis and the July 11 final, it is hoped even more fans will be able to attend in person.

Meanwhile, Kate Nicholls, of UK Hospitality warned that even a two-week delay to ending lockdown would cost the industry £1.5billion.

She added: “This needs to be a full and final unlocking. Our businesses  are running out of road, particularly given Government  support is withdrawn from  June 30.”

PUBS 'UNVIABLE'

Emma McClarkin, of the British Beer & Pub Association, said pubs remain unviable without a total removal of restrictions.

Greene King said if they are not lifted, it would lose £1million of trade for every England  game — rising to ten times that if the Three Lions reach the semis and final.

Chief exec Nick Mackenzie said it was “incredibly important” the Government stick to its plan.

This would allow for standing at the bar to order and not having to wear masks walking around the pub, plus groups of more than six and mixing between households.

Mr Mackenzie added: “After the year we’ve had, and the millions the industry has invested in making pubs safe  any delay would be a devastating blow.

“Bringing people together to watch the game on the big screen is what we do. Being able to do that again this summer will give us a fighting chance of rebuilding after a crippling 15 months.”

DELAY FOR JABS

Those in favour of a delay argue it would allow more Brits to get at least their first jab.

Ministers and medics would also have more time to study data, with infections worryingly back at March levels. Yesterday saw 11 new deaths and 6,238 cases recorded.  This compares with ten deaths and 4,182 cases the previous Friday.

A total of 66,749,638 Brits have now been jabbed. Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford said Wales will stick to “our own timetable” on June 21, whatever happens in England.

The PM is holding firm on the date. But ministers fear June 21 will be too soon to “definitively” prove  the jab has broken the link between cases and hospitalisations.

“Professor Lockdown” Neil Ferguson has warned the Indian variant could yet be 100 per cent more transmissible than other strains.

He said Mr Johnson had a “very difficult judgment call” on whether to unlock in 16 days. The crucial R rate is also as high as 1.2 according to Sage — meaning the virus is up again.

Public Health England said 278 people with the Indian variant attended A&Es in England last week, resulting in 94 overnight admissions.

This compares with 201 A&E attendances in the previous week, with 43 admissions.

However most admissions continue to be people who have not been vaccinated, according to PHE.

The average number of admissions a day in Covid-hotspot East Lancashire, based on a seven-day rolling average, stands at five — the highest since mid-March.

A Cabinet source said of contingency plans: “I can’t say we are not preparing for it, but we are not there quite yet.”

A senior aide added: “We have to wait for the data before a final decision.  Of course, conversations are ongoing about a potential Plan B, as you’d expect. But we hope we don’t have to use it.”

A government figure told Sky News "It would be remiss of us to take a decision without a full set of data as evidence.

"Of course officials are drawing up other options but we are still expecting to be in a place to go ahead on June 21."

Mr Johnson has vowed to give businesses and the public at least a week’s notice, meaning a decision on June 14 at the latest.

It comes as:

• UK could be in the midst of THIRD WAVE, says Sturgeon
• Indian variant could be ‘100% more infectious than Kent strain’
• Covid R rate up AGAIN – and could be as high as 1.3 in hotspot
• France to welcome fully vaccinated Brits from June 9
• Brits dash to get home from Portugal to beat amber list quarantine

A Government source insisted: “We always knew that cases would go up as we unlocked at each stage, but the crucial question is whether this then results in hospitalisations, or whether vaccines are providing the protection we need.

“We’ll have to watch the data closely over the next week before making a final decision, as we have done at each step.”  

Experts today warned the Indian Covid mutation could be 100 per cent more infectious than the Kent variant, which caused the country to lockdown in January.

Professor Neil Ferguson, from Imperial College London, whose modelling was instrumental to the UK locking down in March 2020 said vaccines are helping, but warned the Indian variant is spreading.

Speaking to BBC radio 4's Today Programme he said: "There's some uncertainty around that depending on assumption and how you analyse the data, between about 30 per cent and maybe even up to 100 per cent more transmissible."

The rise in cases has resulted in mounting pressure from scientists to hold back.

Earlier this week, Boris Johnson hinted he would still press on with plans to end lockdown this month - despite warning the decisive data was still "ambiguous".

R RATE RISES

It comes as official figures showed Covid cases in England have soard 75 per cent in seven days to 86,000 last week.

The UK is at the “start of a Covid epidemic in the young”, according to data, as hotspots threaten the lockdown lifting on June 21.

Government advisers at Sage today said the R rate in England is now 1.0 to 1.2.

Last week Sage said the value was 1.0 to 1.1.

An R rate below 1.0 is favoured because it means that the outbreak is still shrinking.

FREEDOM DAY DELAY?

It peaked on January 15 at between 1.2 and 1.3, came down to a low of 0.6 to 0.8 in mid-March, before creeping up again over the past few weeks since Brits were given more freedoms.

There are fears the Indian variant and a mutated version of the strain, dubbed the "Nepal variant" will force "Freedom Day" to be delayed, after cases doubled in a week.

A UK Government spokeswoman said "no decision" had been made on whether to ease all coronavirus restrictions on June 21, amid reports Boris Johnson could delay the move by at least a fortnight.

"As the Prime Minister has set out, we can see nothing in the data at the moment to suggest that we need to deviate from the roadmap," said the spokeswoman.

"We continue to look at the data and the latest scientific evidence and no decision on Step 4 has yet been made."

But teens aged 12 to 15 will be able to sign up to get a Pfizer vaccine when their slot comes to get jabbed - after approval was confirmed today.

Prof James Naismith, Director of the Rosalind Franklin Institute, and University of Oxford, said: “There are two factors at play here, once is the easing of the lockdown measures in May and the second is the delta variant (which has now become dominant).

“The trajectory of the case numbers in the North West are particularly worrying. East Midlands appears on a similar track.

"We are seeing some evidence for an increase in hospitalisation where the case numbers are highest. Without vaccines, we would seem to be a the start of a third wave and given the nature of the delta, such a third wave could have been particularly disastrous.

“It is worth pausing to remember that if it is as transmissible and severe as early data indicate the delta variant will devastate less developed countries. I am filled with dread and sorrow for what lies ahead."