Downing Street has said the plan to ease the lockdown in England will be set out on February 22, after Tory MPs were concerned the timetable may have slipped.
A No 10 spokesman said: “On February 22 we will set out a gradual and phased approach towards easing the restrictions in a sustainable way.”
Concerns of a delay among lockdown-sceptical Conservatives were raised on Thursday when the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “We’ve been clear we will publish the road map on the week of the 22nd.”
On Friday, the No 10 spokesman did not rule out that one option being considered is social distancing being maintained until the autumn.
“The latest data and evidence clearly shows that we remain in a difficult situation with the pressure on the NHS still very significant. We keep the latest data and evidence under constant review and on February 22 we will be setting out our plan to reopen schools and gradually reopening our economy and society,” he said.
Meanwhile, Government data up to February 11 shows that of the 14,542,318 jabs given in the UK so far, 14,012,224 were first doses – a rise of 503,116 on the previous day.
Some 530,094 were second doses, an increase of 5,647 on figures released the previous day.
The seven-day rolling average of first doses given in the UK is now 434,350.
Based on the latest figures, an average of 329,259 first doses of vaccine would be needed each day to meet the Government’s target of 15 million first doses by February 15.
