WEDDINGS with more than 30 guests will be allowed from June 21 despite fears over the Indian Covid strain, it was reported tonight.
Boris Johnson has vowed to give Brits an update “by the end of the month” on an in-depth review into relaxing strict social distancing rules.
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And the Telegraph reports he is poised to announce the fourth and final step on his roadmap out of restrictions will go ahead as planned next month.
If that happens, it will mean restrictions on the number of attendees at weddings and other large-scale events will be scrapped.
The news comes just 24 hours after it was reported there were fears the UK’s reopening date was in doubt “because of the worrying surge in the Indian variant.”
However, government sources told The Telegraph they were confident big weddings would be allowed from June 21 – if the Indian variant did not take a shocking turn for the worse.
A Whitehall source reportedly said: “There’s increasing confidence that vaccines are working against all variants and the data doesn’t seem to be changing too drastically in terms of case numbers and hospitalisations.
“As long as there are no significant changes over the next few days, there is cautious optimism.”
On Thursday, we revealed how the UK may be heading for a third Covid wave as home quarantines “are not working” as cases of the Indian variant continue to rise.
Professor Andrew Hayward, an infectious disease expert and Sage advisior told BBC Breakfast this morning he is “very concerned” about the spread of the B1.617.2 variant.
Asked if the UK is at the start of a third wave of Covid infections, he replied: “I think so.”
Prof Hayward warned the mutation is likely to spread to other parts of the country, adding: “Obviously we’re doing everything we can to contain the spread of that but it’s likely that more generalised measures may start to be needed to control it.”
The Indian B.1617.2 variant has already infected at least 3,000 people since it emerged in mid-April – and is believed to be the dominant strain across 23 areas in the UK, leading to a surge testing blitz.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock told a Downing Street press conference on Wednesday: “We are seeing the vast majority of cases, both of the existing variant and of the B1617.2 variant, amongst younger groups and unvaccinated people.
“On the one hand hand that is actually a good sign as it implies the vaccine is working effectively, but obviously we don’t want to see a huge increase in the number of cases everywhere.”
