PM raises hopes for July 19 easing of rules
Boris Johnson has pledged to reveal details of what the end of lockdown restrictions in England will look like in the coming days as he acknowledged some "extra precautions" may be needed.
The Prime Minister said it is "ever clearer" that vaccines are reducing deaths, despite increasing levels of infections involving the Delta variant of coronavirus.
He said he has increasing confidence that he can go ahead with the final phase of his plans to end England's lockdown on July 19 to "get back to life as close to it was before Covid".
His comments came after new Health Secretary Sajid Javid earlier this week confirmed his intention for Step 4 of the road map to go ahead at that point, but he stopped short of confirming to MPS that will mean the end of every measure.
During a visit to the Nissan plant in Sunderland on Thursday, the Prime Minister told reporters: "I know how impatient people are to get back to total normality, as indeed am I. I will be setting in the course of the next few days what Step 4 will look like exactly.
"But I think I've said it before, we'll be wanting to go back to a world that is as close to the status quo, antecovid, as possible. Try to get back to life as close to it was before Covid.
"But there may be some things we have to do, extra precautions that we have to take, but I'll be setting them out."
Mr Johnson acknowledged there has been a "big" increase in positive cases in England.