Boris Johnson said that no final decision had been taken on lifting coronavirus restrictions on June 21.
The Prime Minister is expected to announce today that the final stage of easing controls in England is to be put on hold for up to four weeks amid a surge in cases of the Delta variant first identified in India.
A final decision was reportedly made on Sunday ahead of today's formal announcement.
Receive newsletters with the latest news, sport and what's on updates from the Liverpool ECHO by signing up here.
It comes amid repeated warnings from some scientists that the rapid spread of the Delta variant first identified in India could lead to a "substantial" third wave if controls are lifted.
Doctors leaders in the British Medical Association (BMA) joined calls on Friday for the final lifting to be put on hold to enable millions more to gain the protection of the vaccine.
BMA council chairman Dr Chaand Nagpaul said: "With only 54.2% of the adult population currently fully vaccinated and many younger people not yet eligible, there is a huge risk that prematurely relaxing all restrictions will undo the excellent work of the vaccine programme and lead to a surge of infections.
"It's not just about the number of hospitalisations, but also the risk to the health of large numbers of younger people, who can suffer long-term symptoms affecting their lives and ability to work."
However, a delay - potentially to July 19 - will come as a bitter blow to many businesses, particularly in the hospitality and leisure sectors, which had been pinning their hopes on a full summer reopening to help recoup some of the losses of the past year.
Mr Johnson told a press conference on Sunday: "We are continuing to look at the data, no final decision has been taken, and the right time to fill everybody in on what we are going to do with step 4 with June 21 is tomorrow, as I have said.
"That's when we will be putting out the whole package of information so that everyone can see it together."
