Dr Hilary Jones hopes government postpones ‘Freedom Day’ as Covid-19 cases continue to soar

Dr Hilary Jones has said he hopes the government will postpone the lifting of restrictions amid the rising Covid-19 cases.

It’s currently expected that Boris Johnson will lift Covid-19 restrictions, including mandatory mask wearing and social distancing, on July 19.

The date has already been postponed from June 21, but cases have been rising again, with the daily cases now being above 30,000 for the first time since January.

Dr Hilary said on Good Morning Britain: ‘I do hope that on the [12th] July they actually look at the figures again and say, “Actually, we better postpone it.”‘

Clarifying what he meant, Dr Hilary pointed out that the Government will assess the data on July 12 to determine whether the lifting of restrictions should go ahead.

Dr Hilary recalled a comment made by NHS Grampian chief executive Professor Caroline Hiscox, who urged people to ‘follow facts, which stands for face mask, avoid crowded spaces, clean your hands regularly, stay two metres from others, self isolate if you develop symptoms and book a test.’

‘How sensible is that?’ he asked, with presenter Susanna Reid replying: ‘We’re getting rid of half of that.’

Boris Johnson is expected to lift Covid-19 restrictions on July 19 (Picture: Getty Images)

‘I know, and that doesn’t make sense to me,’ Dr Hilary added.

The 68-year-old has been urging people to be cautious amid the rising cases, previously saying on the morning show that we’re putting ‘too much faith’ in vaccinations.

While more than 45million people have had their first dose in the UK, only 34million have had both doses – about half the adult population.

‘We’re putting far too much faith in vaccinations,’ Dr Hilary warned, referencing the projection that there will be 50,000 new cases per day at the time of restrictions lifting.

‘Everyone’s saying it’s been a wonderful thing and it has. It has weakened the link between hospitalisations and deaths.’

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‘We’d have been in a great position if we’d only been dealing with the Alpha variant and the Kent variant, but actually we’re dealing with the Delta variant, which is much more transmissible,’ the NHS worker said.

‘There are going to be other variants,’ he went on to warn.

Good Morning Britain airs weekdays at 6am on ITV.

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