Boris Johnson has announced a new date for lockdown being lifted.

Experts feared going ahead with step four on June 21 as planned could lead to hospital admissions on the scale of the first wave of Covid-19 heaping unsustainable pressure on the health service.

Mr Johnson said during a Downing Street press conference that it is "sensible" to put back the end of all legal limits on social contact to July 19, saying he is "confident" no further delay will be necessary.

He hopes deaths will be significantly reduced by that point because two-thirds of adults will have then been offered both vaccine doses due to the delay being coupled with a reduction in the time between jabs for the over-40s.

Carol Rowell said: "Its going to go on forever they dont want us to be free ! Always going to be new strains if it just like flu!"

Gordon Long said: "Who really believes 19th July. Next year will be only 4 more weeks."

Alex Rayment said: "Judging by the last 14 MONTHS we cant "live with it" very successfully either...meanwhile in most zero covid countries life continues mostly normal or certainly more normal than ours"

Kelsia Birch said: "County on lockdown but borders open to others, hundreds of thousands have had the vaccine but country still on lockdown, scaremongering with "new variants" every other week.

"The common cold / flu mutates in the same way and can be just as harmful to vulnerable people, something just doesn't sit right, extended lockdown by 4 weeks to increase numbers vaccinated but they've already confirmed that the vaccine hasn't been tested on the new variants so can't confirm or deny its going to do the job, so why extend lockdown?

Phil Conway said: The vaccine will not protect the vulnerable, the vaccine does not allow you to go on holiday and the vaccine will not allow life to go back to normal. Wait until winter we will all be locked down again for 4 months"