Boris Johnson Faces Lockdown Dilemma Just as U.K. Covid Cases Rise
- New variant fuels increase ahead of planned June 21 reopening
- Prime minister under pressure from business, Conservative MPs
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Coronavirus infection rates in the U.K. are heading in the wrong direction at just the wrong moment for Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
In the coming days he will thrash out with ministers whether to lift pandemic restrictions as planned on June 21, with an announcement due a week before. Businesses are demanding it, as are members of his Conservative Party, for whom the date has become a totemic symbol of life returning to normal.
Yet Covid cases are again on the rise, fueled by the highly transmissible Delta variant first identified in India which is now dominant in Britain. Cases of the strain confirmed in laboratories more than doubled this week to 12,431, while early evidence suggests it may be linked to an higher risk of hospitalization.