<p>British health minister Matt Hancock said on Sunday it was too early to say whether the government would stick to its plan to fully lift Covid-19 lockdown restrictions in England on June 21.</p>.<p>Hancock said there had been a "very significant" impact from the delta variant of Covid-19 first detected in India over the last month, which is now the dominant strain in England, according to official estimates.</p>.<p>He pointed to a renewed rise in Covid-19 cases but said he had been reassured by a broadly flat rate of hospitalisations and deaths as officials consider plans to end the lockdown.</p>.<p><strong>Read more: <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/international/delta-variant-of-covid-19-now-dominant-in-uk-993968.html" target="_blank">Delta variant of Covid-19 now dominant in UK </a></strong></p>.<p>"It's too early to make a final decision on that," Hancock told <em>Sky News.</em></p>.<p>"The prime minister and I and the team will be looking at all the data over this week. We've said that we'll give people enough time ahead of the June 21 date.</p>.<p>"We are not saying 'No' to June 21 at this point," he added.</p>.<p>Hancock said it was important that people receive both doses of Covid-19 vaccines as the data showed this could protect effectively against the delta variant.</p>.<p>Britain's swift vaccine rollout had weakened, but not broken, the link between the virus, hospitalisation and death, Hancock said.</p>.<p>Last week, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he could see nothing in the data that would derail the plan to end lockdown restrictions, although caution was needed.</p>.<p>Britain's overall death toll from the pandemic stands at 127,836 and is the sixth-highest in the world, according to Johns Hopkins University data. </p>
<p>British health minister Matt Hancock said on Sunday it was too early to say whether the government would stick to its plan to fully lift Covid-19 lockdown restrictions in England on June 21.</p>.<p>Hancock said there had been a "very significant" impact from the delta variant of Covid-19 first detected in India over the last month, which is now the dominant strain in England, according to official estimates.</p>.<p>He pointed to a renewed rise in Covid-19 cases but said he had been reassured by a broadly flat rate of hospitalisations and deaths as officials consider plans to end the lockdown.</p>.<p><strong>Read more: <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/international/delta-variant-of-covid-19-now-dominant-in-uk-993968.html" target="_blank">Delta variant of Covid-19 now dominant in UK </a></strong></p>.<p>"It's too early to make a final decision on that," Hancock told <em>Sky News.</em></p>.<p>"The prime minister and I and the team will be looking at all the data over this week. We've said that we'll give people enough time ahead of the June 21 date.</p>.<p>"We are not saying 'No' to June 21 at this point," he added.</p>.<p>Hancock said it was important that people receive both doses of Covid-19 vaccines as the data showed this could protect effectively against the delta variant.</p>.<p>Britain's swift vaccine rollout had weakened, but not broken, the link between the virus, hospitalisation and death, Hancock said.</p>.<p>Last week, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he could see nothing in the data that would derail the plan to end lockdown restrictions, although caution was needed.</p>.<p>Britain's overall death toll from the pandemic stands at 127,836 and is the sixth-highest in the world, according to Johns Hopkins University data. </p>