Boris Johnson is expected to delay the lifting of lockdown for four weeks, according to national media reports.

The "freedom day" due on Monday, June 21, could be put back to July 19.

Whether this will happen for sure will be confirmed when the Prime Minister makes an announcement next Monday.

This evening Whitehall sources told The Sun, a rise in cases of the Delta variant could force the Prime Minster to delay for up to four weeks.

Mr Johnson has been under mounting pressure to delay lifting coronavirus restrictions in England following another the sharp rise in cases.

The British Medical Association joined calls to put any further relaxation on hold with the variant first identified in India estimated to account for 96% of new cases.

The latest figures from Public Health England (PHE), published on Friday, showed there had been 42,323 cases of the Delta variant confirmed in the UK, up by 29,892 from the previous week.

In Kent, latest figures show there were 202 new cases of the strain in the week up to June 4 and there's been a 70% rise in the variant in west Kent.

It estimates the strain is 60% more transmissible compared with the previously dominant Alpha, or Kent, variant, and that cases were doubling every four-and-a-half days in some parts of England.

In Kent, 55% of adults have now received two doses, and 76% one, as the the county's impressive roll-out has picked up pace.

The UK has been in repeated lockdowns since March 2020 as the disease has turned normal life upside down.

By today 4,550, 044 people were infected since the pandemic first arrived in the UK in early 2020 and 127,884 have died.

The last stage of the road map out of lockdown is due to see an end to all legal limits on social contact, a reopening of nightclubs, no restrictions on the size of weddings or other gatherings, and the return of large audiences for events such as theatre performances.

Read more: All the latest news from Kent