LONDON, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Wednesday that he will be focusing on "data, not dates" as he is set to announce a roadmap for easing England's coronavirus lockdown next week.
Johnson said he agreed with Professor Dame Angela McLeanthe, the British government's deputy chief scientific adviser, who told a committee of lawmakers that the relaxing of COVID-19 restrictions should depend on "data, not dates".
Johnson is expected to unveil his roadmap out of lockdown on Monday next week.
The plan will be based "firmly on a cautious and prudent approach" that ensures the unlocking will be "irreversible", said Johnson. "We want to be going one way from now on."
Johnson urged caution and patience with the public, adding that the easing would be done in "stages".
"I would just advise everybody just wait, we'll try and say as much as we can on that," he said.
Speaking at a mass vaccination centre in Cwmbran, south Wales, on Wednesday, Johnson said, "I certainly think that we need to go in stages. We need to go cautiously."
"You have to remember from last year that we opened up hospitality fully as one of the last things that we did because there is obviously an extra risk of transmission from hospitality," he said.
Another 10,625 people in Britain have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 4,058,468, according to official figures released Tuesday.
The country also reported another 799 coronavirus-related deaths. The total number of coronavirus-related deaths in Britain now stands at 118,195. These figures only include the deaths of people who died within 28 days of their first positive test.
The latest figures were revealed as more than 15.5 million people in Britain have been given the first jab of the coronavirus vaccine.
England is currently under the third national lockdown since outbreak of the pandemic in the country. Similar restriction measures are also in place in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
To bring life back to normal, countries such as Britain, China, Germany, Russia and the United States have been racing against time to roll out coronavirus vaccines. Enditem
