Boris Johnson has said there is now a “very good chance” of ending coronavirus restrictions completely on June 21 in his most optimistic assessment yet.

While cautioning that the virus was not “totally licked”, Johnson expressed confidence that legal restrictions on social contact would come to an end as planned. This would mean the return of mass gatherings, nightclubs, conferences and other events that did not reopen last summer.

The prime minister said that he still expects a third wave of the virus but vaccination had built “some pretty robust fortifications” against it.

He said: “As things stand I think we’ve got a very good chance of really opening up totally on June 21. But we’ve got to be cautious and go on the data, not the dates.”

But the PM cautioned: “That doesn’t mean that we’ve got it totally licked. It doesn’t mean that Covid is over. We’ve got to be realistic about that; unfortunately, there probably will be another wave of the disease.”

However, he added that “the vaccination programme has now been so massive” that “we’ve built up what I think are some pretty robust fortifications against the next wave.”

Source: The Times