England could be free of all Covid restrictions by July 19, as the country moves towards herd immunity despite rising infection numbers.
Ministers hope to lift rules such as social distancing, face masks in public spaces and work-from-home guidance - and could even allow nightclubs to reopen - in the comings weeks.
'Encouraging data', such as the 'very, very low' number of Covid deaths is said to be driving the move towards a new 'Freedom Day' date, reports the Times.
It comes after Boris Johnson sensationally scrapped June 21 as England's previously set 'Freedom Day', amid concerns about cases of the Delta (Indian) variant in the UK.
Ministers hope that the extra four weeks will buy enough to time to get more Britain's double-jabbed before the final set of restrictions are lifted.
And, so long as the current trends continue, the Government believes it can lift more restrictions next month. A senior Government source told the Times that ministers 'get as close to normal as possible' on July 19.
Instead of restrictions, the Government will push an emphasis on 'personal responsibility' to help limit the spread of the virus.
It comes as Britain today recorded 11,625 coronavirus cases – the most since mid-February – and deaths may have finally started creeping upwards following the rapid spread of the Indian variant.
Other promising data today revealed the country has moved one step closer to herd immunity, with nearly nine in 10 adults now having antibodies against Covid.
The major Office for National Statistics (ONS) blood testing survey highlighted the success of the UK's mammoth vaccination campaign, which is now open to every adult in all four home nations. Almost 60 per cent of over-18s (31.5million) are now fully jabbed.
But only 60,000 jabs were recorded as being dished out yesterday because of an 'IT issue' affecting England. The problem resulted in clinicians having to log who received their vaccine with pen and paper.
England could be free of all Covid restrictions by July 19, as the country moving towards herd immunity - despite rising infection numbers
Ministers hope to lift rules such as social distancing, face masks in public spaces and work-from-home guidance - and could even allow nightclubs to reopen - in the comings weeks
'Encouraging data', such as the 'very, very low' number of Covid deaths is said to be driving the move towards a new Freedom Day date, reports the Times
The PC Agency travel consultancy has suggested that 14 countries currently on Britain's amber list could be moved to green
Antibody positive levels are highest among older age groups who have had two doses but rising fast in younger adults, too. In those who were first to get vaccinated the rate of immunity has flattened off at over 99 per cent, showing almost everyone has at least some protection against the virus
HAS BRITAIN'S THIRD WAVE ALREADY PEAKED? Britain is recording nearly 10,000 daily infections now compared to 2,000 in late April when the 'Delta' variant was first seeded in the country. But the speed at which cases are increasing every week has slowed to nearly 30 per cent, down from 65 per cent earlier this month, suggesting the outbreak had peaked by the first week of June
Meanwhile, Department of Health figures show daily infections have risen by 51.5 per cent in a week, with today's count the most since February 19 (12,027).
Hospitalisations – which lag behind cases by several weeks because of how long it takes for infected patients to fall severely ill – have jumped up by a fifth. But there are still just 1,380 Covid inpatients across the UK.
Deaths have nearly tripled in the last week, with 27 victims recorded today compared to 10 last Thursday. But the average number of daily fatalities is currently 13 and figures can fluctuate day-to-day because of recording lags.
Deaths had remained flat in recent weeks despite cases quadrupling since late April – but No10's top scientists expected deaths to eventually nudge upwards because of the spike in infections.
Even though figures show the outbreak is still growing in the face of the mutant Delta strain, Matt Hancock today claimed England was 'on track' for Freedom Day of July 19 to go ahead as planned. But he ruled out bringing the unlocking forward to July 5.
The Health Secretary argued there were signs the speed of growth was 'slowing' for the first time since the Indian variant took off. He also said hospitalisations were rising but not quickly and deaths were still 'very, very low'.
Britain is recording nearly 10,000 daily infections now compared to 2,000 in late April when the 'Delta' variant was first seeded in the country.
But the speed at which cases are increasing every week has slowed to around 35 per cent, down from 65 per cent earlier this month.
Just 1,290 people are currently being treated in hospital for Covid now, compared to nearly 40,000 at the peak of the second wave. The current figure is significantly better than even the best case scenarios modelled by some scientific groups within SAGE.
Weekly coronavirus deaths are also continuing to fall. A Office for National Statistics' weekly report today found that there were 84 deaths registered across England and Wales in the past seven days, the lowest figure recorded since September last year.
The same set of statistics also showed Covid accounted for just 0.8 per cent of all deaths recorded across the two countries in the most recent week — with flu and pneumonia now killing 10 times as many patients as coronavirus.
And analysis of the data by MailOnline revealed more than a third of all 300-plus councils across the two nations have not suffered a Covid fatality since April.
Britain's impressive vaccination programme is the driving force behind the surging numbers of people who are showing signs of immunity and the low hospitalisation figures.
Across the whole of the UK, 43.1million people have had at least one dose of a jab.
The UK was expected to hit another milestone in the roll-out today, with ministers hoping to pass figure of 60 per cent of adults fully vaccinated.
But an IT system crash on Monday afternoon has caused a delay to the daily vaccination numbers, according to NHS England.
The issue resulted in clinicians being unable to log who had received their jab via the usual digital method, and instead had to record it with pen and paper.
Now the system is back up and running the data needs to be manually entered, which will be time consuming given that several hundred thousand doses are being administered each day.
'Following the IT issue that was reported to the NHS yesterday (21 June), the daily Covid statistics will be updated tomorrow, while vaccinations recorded yesterday are updated to the digital system,' the NHS England website said.
'The issue is now resolved and there has been no impact on vaccinations taking place.'
People were still urged to get their jab if they had a booking, as it would cause no difference to the service. The problem was also an isolated incident, meaning the public could still access the booking site as normal.
On top of the vaccine effect, there are also positive signs that the new Delta variant can be controlled without lockdowns. Hotspots Bolton and Blackburn managed to get cases under control with extra testing and contact tracing.
This appears to have given No10 confidence it can push ahead with its July 19 planned unlocking, despite the Indian variant now accounting for almost every new infection.
Mr Hancock told BBC Radio 4's Today Programme: 'We are seeing that growth in case rates is slowing. Thankfully the number of hospitalisations, while rising, is not rising very quickly and thankfully even more is that the number of people dying from Covid remains very, very low.'
He added: 'So I'd say we're on track for the opening on the 19th of July, and we will watch vigilantly and we'll look at the data
