THE Prime Minister has said the Government will move ahead with its easing of Covid-19 restrictions on Monday.

However, he said the new Indian variant could impact on moving to step four of the road map to ending coronavirus restrictions in June.

He also said there were plans to cut the gap between first and second doses of the Covid-19 vaccine to eight weeks to speed up the pace at which people over the age of 50 would be protected.

He said: "We believe this variant is more transmissible than the previous ones and passes more easily from person to person but we don't know by how much."

Mr Johnson said if it was "marginally" more transmissible it would not affect the road map.

He added: "If it's significantly more transmissible we may have to face hard choices and we are going to be learning more about that in coming weeks. 

"The good news is there is no evidence the vaccine will be less effective in protecting people against severe illness."

The Prime Minister said the gap between first and second doses would be cut to eight weeks to speed up the vaccination programme, which he said NHS England estimates has saved 12,000 lives so far. 

He added: "We will proceed to move to step three from Monday.

"I will level with you that this new variant could pose a serious disruption to our progress and could make it more difficult to move to step four in June.

"We will do whatever it takes to keep the public safe."

Extra restrictions are not planned in the Bolton area, where cases of the variant have been highest. 

England’s chief medical officer, Professor Chris Whitty, told the briefing the variant was “quite widely seeded in a number of parts of England and indeed elsewhere in parts of the four nations of the United Kingdom”, and could overtake the Kent strain to become dominant in the UK.

He warned that if the variant proves to be a lot more transmissible than other variants, the UK could see “a really significant surge” in Covid-19 cases, adding: “That’s a really critical question to which we do not yet have the answer.”

Prof Whitty said the UK might be seeing a delay in the impact of the new variant or that vaccines were holding it at bay.

He said: “It could be that it is initially circulating in younger ages, because that’s what has always happened previously.

“Younger people mix more and the initial circulation is in younger ages, and then it moves up the age range – so maybe it’s just a delay because of that.

“Or maybe it’s a delay because the vaccine is actually providing a firebreak, a barrier to reduce the transmission up the ages, into those who are most vulnerable, clearly the second of those is by far the more preferable.”

In a bid to dampen the effects of the surge in cases, Mr Johnson announced that people over 50 and the clinically vulnerable will have their second doses of a Covid vaccine accelerated.

Mr Johnson said second doses – which give people maximum protection against Covid-19 – will be brought forward from the planned 12-week interval to eight weeks.

He said: “I believe we should trust in our vaccines to protect the public whilst monitoring the situation as it develops very closely because the race between our vaccination programme and the virus may be about to become a great deal tighter and it’s more important than ever, therefore, that people get the protection of a second dose.

“So following advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation we will accelerate remaining second doses to the over-50s and those clinically vulnerable right across the country so those doses come just eight weeks after the first dose.”

Prof Whitty said the continued rollout of first doses to younger age groups is not expected to be delayed by accelerating second doses to the over-50s and vulnerable.

The PM said the army would be deployed in parts of the North West which have suffered some of the highest rates of the Indian variant, and will hand out tests to help the surge testing efforts.

Mr Johnson also urged people to “think really carefully” about the risk to loved ones, “especially if they haven’t had that second dose or if it hasn’t yet had time to take full effect.”

He added: “I want us to trust people to be responsible, and to do the right thing. That’s the way to live with this virus while protecting the NHS and restoring our freedoms.

“It’s very clear now we’re going to have to live with this new variant of the virus for some time so let’s work together, and let’s exercise caution and common sense.”

The Prime Minister said that the UK’s surveillance data is now so advanced, that it would see well ahead of time if the NHS was likely to come under unsustainable pressure.

“That gives us the confidence to continue moving forwards for now,” he said.

However, he urged people to “think twice” ahead of travelling to areas with higher incidences of the Indian variant and staying with family and friends within those areas.

“We want people in those areas to recognise that there is extra risk, an extra threat of disruption to progress caused by this new variant and just to exercise their discretion and judgment in a way I’m sure that they have been throughout this pandemic,” he said.