UK records highest daily Covid-19 cases, govt mulls ‘options’ besides ending lockdown

The UK recorded a further 6,238 Covid cases on Friday, even as the government maintains that there is "nothing in the data" to suggest ending lockdown should be delayed.

The UK government on Saturday said it is considering “options” around a planned end to lockdown on June 21 after the country recorded the highest number of daily Covid-19 cases in just over two months.The UK recorded a further 6,238 coronavirus cases on Friday as England's R number, or the rate of infection, continues to rise and the latest government numbers also show another 11 Covid-19 related deaths."Of course officials are drawing up other options but we are still expecting to be in a place to go ahead on June 21," a UK government figure told ‘Sky News’.Options under discussion are said to include retaining the wearing of face masks in certain settings and continuing the work from home advice, even as the hospitality sector opens up. However, the government maintains that there is "nothing in the data" to suggest ending lockdown should be delayed.The number of Covid-19 cases in the country is now at its highest since March 25, when 6,397 were recorded, and the spike is largely down to the Delta variant or the highly transmissible B1.617.2 variant of concern (VOC) first detected in India. ALSO READ | UK in early stages of 3rd wave of coronavirus, warns Indian-origin scientistUK Health Secretary Matt Hancock said that a rise of cases was to be expected as the country came out of lockdown."We always expected cases to rise as the country was opened up, the critical thing is the impact on the number of people who end up in hospital for any given number of cases,” said Hancock."That link has been broken by the vaccine, but it hasn't been completely severed yet. That's one of the things that we're watching very carefully, and it's too early to say what the decision will be ahead of June 21, but we'll make sure people know in good time," he said.