Environment Minister George Eustice hinted that the government could delay the planned lockdown easing on June 21 because of fears over the Delta variant.
He appeared on GMB this morning speaking to Susanna Reid and Richard Madeley about the easing of restrictions.
Mr Eustice said that Prime Minister Boris Johnson would announce whether we can proceed with the next stage of the roadmap on June 14, a week before restrictions are due to lift on June 21.
Mr Eustice said that there had been an increase in infection rate but that this was to be expected because most of the people under 30 hadn't been vaccinated and that society was opening up.
He said: "The key test to look at is whether we are seeing any signs that people who have been vaccinated might be able to get this variant."
The latest data showed that only three people who had had two doses of the vaccine had got coronavirus which Mr Eustice described as "encouraging."
He said that the cabinet would be meeting at the weekend to review the data and that the government want to accelerate the vaccine rollout so that the more vulnerable get their two jabs as soon as possible.
Mr Eustice said: "We want each step to be irreversible, we want to do this cautiously and sensibly, we dont want that stop go."
Richard Madeley asked him "why not go for it" in regard to the June 21 date.
Mr Eustice said: "Well we may well go for it.
"But we need to be cautious about this new strain, first identified in India, it is more virulent and it does appear that people really do need to get that second jab to have protection against that variant.
"At the moment 50% of people have had their second jab, we're accelerating that as quickly as we can.
"That's the issue we need to consider here, is whether removing all those restrictions would increase the risk for those who've only had one jab rather than the second jab."
*GMB continues at 6am on ITV tomorrow
