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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Politics
Daisy Naylor

What time is Boris Johnson's lockdown announcement today?

Boris Johnson will confirm his plans to "restore people's freedoms" with an update on restrictions later today.

The Prime Minister will lay out the details for England's final step out of lockdown, currently scheduled to take on effect on 19 July.

He is expected to announce that the one-metre social distancing rule and the legal requirement to wear a face mask will be scrapped.

He is also expected to reveal the next steps for care home visits, and provide an update on the formal advice to work from home wherever possible.

While coronavirus cases are soaring across the country, the vaccination roll-out has significantly reduced the number of people suffering from serious illness or dying from the disease.

What time is the announcement?

Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Health Secretary Sajid Javid will hold a televised press conference at 5pm today.

Boris Johnson will detail the final step of England's roadmap out of lockdown (Jonathan Buckmaster)

Prior to this, Mr Javid will update MPs in the Commons at 3:30pm (or later, depending on the parliamentary diary).

They are expected to call for more eligible adults to go for their second vaccine dose before 19 July, to ensure they have the highest protection possible.

Mr Johnson said: “Thanks to the successful rollout of our vaccination programme, we are progressing cautiously through our roadmap.

"Today we will set out how we can restore people’s freedoms when we reach step 4.

“But I must stress that the pandemic is not over and that cases will continue to rise over the coming weeks.

“As we begin to learn to live with this virus, we must all continue to carefully manage the risks from Covid and exercise judgement when going about our lives."

Health Secretary Sajid Javid will update MPs in the Commons ahead of the press conference this afternoon (AFP via Getty Images)

The government will formally confirm its plans for 19 July one week in advance - on 12 July.

It will only be able to proceed if the four tests for easing restrictions - considering the vaccine rollout, vaccine effectiveness, hospital admissions, and new virus variants - have been met.

The Prime Minister has warned that people must still "exercise judgement" once formal restrictions have been lifted.

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