What time is Boris Johnson's Covid announcement today? When will the UK Prime Minister give his lockdown updates speech?
Prime minister Boris Johnson will say that Britain needs to begin to learn to live with this virus at his latest press briefing later today. It comes exactly three weeks after the PM delayed Englands so-called Freedom Day on June 21, when all coronavirus restrictions were to be scrapped, by four weeks. Sign up to our public interest bulletins - get the latest news on the Coronavirus Sign up to our public interest bulletins - get the latest news on the Coronavirus Sign up now Thanks for signing up! Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... The expected relaxation of measures later this month will only apply in England, with the other three nations of the United Kingdom navigating their own way out of lockdown. The Prime Minister is expected to make his announcement at 5pm this evening. You will be able to watch live on BBC or Sky News  on television, BBC iPlayer, or YouTube for Sky. Prime Minister Boris Johnson will give an update later today on when the final Covid restrictions are likley to be lifted. Boris Johnson is expected to say that the majority of the remaining Covid restrictions in England  including the rule of six for gatherings, table service in bars and restaurants, capacity limits in theatres and cinemas, and nightclub closures  should be lifted from 19 July. It is likely people travelling to amber list countries will no longer be required to quarantine on return, while Johnson will also give an update on the use of vaccine passports, face coverings, working from home and social distancing. In comments released in advance of the statement, he said that people must "learn to live with this virus" and "exercise judgement" as the vaccinations programme appears to be successfully limiting deaths, even as infection rates rise. He will also stress that the pandemic is not over and that cases will continue to rise over the coming weeks, but that it was important to restore peoples freedoms, adding: As we begin to learn to live with this virus, we must all continue to carefully manage the risks from Covid and exercise judgement when going about our lives." He will also add a note of caution, saying that the scrapping of restrcitions would only proceed if the government's "four tests" for easing curbs had been met. If the verdict on those tests  concerning the vaccine rollout, vaccine effectiveness, hospital admission and virus variants  are positive then a further announcement will be made on 12 July. Scotlands approach to Covid restrictions has been different to Englands throughout the pandemic. Our current lockdown restrictions are currently set to be lifted on 9 August, following a move to level zero on 19 July. But the Scottish government has already said there will be an "ongoing need" for face coverings on public transport and in shops, while also urging caution due to the prevalence of the Delta Variant and rising infection rates. A Scottish Government spokesperson said: We will take account of social and economic factors as well as the epidemiological impact on transmission and will keep measures under review. "As the first minister has set out, we will have to manage living with Covid 19 for some time to come, even when we are able to move beyond level zero. "There will still be some ongoing need for face coverings, for example on public transport and in retail, and we will be working with sectors to establish baseline mitigations and produce further guidance by end of July." A message from the Editor:  Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by Coronavirus impacts our advertisers.