Johnson Says UK to Ease COVID-19 Restrictions on 19 July

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said, on Monday, that people in England are "very likely" to be able to return to "pretty much life before Covid" on 19 July.

It was "sensible to stick to our plan" of having a "cautious but irreversible approach" to lifting the remaining coronavirus restrictions, Johnson stated.

"Although there are some encouraging signs and the number of deaths remains low and the number of hospitalisations remains low - though both are going up a bit - we are seeing an increase in cases," Johnson noted.

"So we think it's sensible to stick to our plan to have a cautious but irreversible approach, use the next three weeks or so really to complete as much as we can of that vaccine rollout," he explained.

The U.K. prime miister asserted that they are very likely to be in a position on 19 July to say that really is the terminus and thy they go back to life as it was before Covid-19 as far as possible.

On his part, New Health Secretary Sajid Javid is going to update MPs later on the restrictions.

"I want to see the restrictions lifted and life going back to normal as quickly as possible. That is my absolute priority," Javid affirmed. "I want to see those restrictions lifted as soon as we can."

"It is going to be irreversible, there's no going back. That's why we want to be careful during that process."

Notably, the planned easing on 21 June was delayed amid concern over the spread of the Delta variant. When announcing the delay, the prime minister promised a review after two weeks.

Meanwhile, travelers from the U.K. to mainland Portugal will now be required to quarantine for 14 days on arrival, unless they have been fully vaccinated for at least two weeks.

Portugal was removed from the U.K.'s green travel list of quarantine-free destinations earlier this month. However, it has brought in the new legislation until at least 11 July.

It does not apply to the Portuguese island of Madeira, which is being added to the U.K.'s green list on Wednesday, or the Azores, which is staying on the amber list.