Matt Hancock says it is too early to give a timeline for easing Covid lockdown

The health secretary, Matt Hancock, pointed out that hospital cases were almost double the April peak.

'Of course, I understand the yearning people have to get out of this,' he said, during the Downing Street briefing. 'We have to look at the facts on the ground and we have to monitor those facts. Everybody wants to have a timeline for that. But I think most people understand why it is difficult to put a timeline on it, because it’s a matter of monitoring the data and the facts.'