Covid: Boris Johnson ‘optimistic’ Brits can book summer holidays in 2021
Boris Johnson has today said he is “optimistic” Brits will be able to go on summer holidays this year, after Covid restrictions are eased.
The Prime Minister said he could not give “concrete” details for when travel will be allowed and that “some things have got to go right”, like the UK’s vaccine rollout.
The Prime Minister is due to outline England’s roadmap out of the current lockdown on 22 February, with some restrictions expected to be eased on 8 March.
In the meantime, the government is aiming on vaccinating the 15m people most vulnerable to Covid by 15 February – a target that looks likely to be hit.
As of yesterday, 9.3m in the UK had received one dose of the Covid vaccine with 494,209 of these people also receiving the second dose.
Before the Open newsletter: Start your day with the City View podcast and key market data
Speaking on a trip to Cornwall today, the Prime Minister said: “I don’t want to give too much concrete by way of dates for our summer holidays. I am optimistic – I understand the reasons for being optimistic – but some things have got to go right.
“The vaccine programme has got to continue to be successful.
“We have got to make sure we don’t get thrown off course by new variants, we have got to make sure that we continue to keep the disease under control and the level of infections come down.”
It comes as the government announced today that people in Woking, Surrey, will be offered coronavirus tests after two people in the community tested positive for the South African variant, with no travel links to South Africa.
Households in the Goldsworth Park and St Johns areas of Woking will be visited and requested to carry out a Covid-19 test – regardless of whether they have symptoms or not.