Covid cases could reach 120,000 every day when most of the last remaining lockdown restrictions are lifted, a study suggests.
Infections are currently soaring in the UK and daily case numbers are at their highest level since back in January this year, when the country was plunged into another lockdown.
Earlier this week Health Secretary Sajid Javid warned that Brits could see 100,000 cases per day as restrictions are eased.
Prof Neil Ferguson, whose modelling led the government to bring in the lockdown in 2020, suggested that around one in 1,000 people who contract the virus will die going forward.
From July 19 a raft of restrictions will vanish, and face masks, social distancing, QR codes and ordering at the bar in pubs will all no longer be a legal requirement in England.
Full-size stadium gigs and theatre shows will also be able to restart with no social distancing restrictions.
A new study warns there could be as many as 120,000 cases a day by so-called 'Freedom Day.'
The REACT study revealed cases have surged by a factor of four in England since June and they are doubling every six days.
The publication writes that with daily cases at about 29,000, this would lead to about 120,000 daily cases by the day restrictions are lifted.
About one in 170 people are testing positive for coronavirus, they found.
Imperial College London’s Professor Paul Elliott was reported to have said: “We see in our own data the effectiveness of the vaccine and we certainly see it in the older population.
“We see much lower hospitalisation rates now than we saw in the second wave.”
He added: “Even though the vaccine is effective, it's a fantastic vaccine but it's not a perfect vaccines, the proportion of people from round 12 to 13 that are vaccinated that are testing positive is increasing.
"We are not seeing the absence of infection in the vaccinated group, we are seeing growth."
Government data shows that case numbers of Covid are on the rise, and there were 32,548 reported cases yesterday, compared to 28,773 the previous day.
This is the highest daily rate since the end of January.
The numbers of deaths, meanwhile, is lower than at the beginning of the year, and there were 33 UK deaths yesterday and 37 the previous day.
The latest figures for vaccinations show that more than 45.5 million people have been given one dose of a vaccine along with more than 34 million people having two doses.
