'Very optimistic' of meeting target to lift COVID lockdown but nothing can be guaranteed, says Johnson

London [UK], February 23 (ANI): United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday said that he is "very optimistic" about meeting the government's target of fully lifting the COVID-19 legal limits on social contact by June 21, but admitted that nothing can be guaranteed.
"I am hopeful but obviously nothing can be guaranteed and it all depends on the way we continue to be prudent and continue to follow the guidance in each stage," Johnson told reporters during a visit to a school in south London, as quoted by Sputnik.
On meeting the June 21 target, the UK Prime Minister said his optimism relies on the success of the vaccination campaign.
"Because science has given us this way of creating a whole shield around our population, we can really look at that June 21 date with some optimism. That's how I'd put it. I'm very optimistic that we would be able to get that," he said.
Sputnik reported that according to official data, more than 17.7 million people in the UK had already been given the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and the government hopes that by July 31, all the adult population in the country had had the possibility of getting a jab.
When asked if those who have been immunised would receive a vaccine certificate, Johnson said that the government would be looking at it, because "there are deep and complex issues that we need to explore."
On Monday, the Prime Minister had announced the government's roadmap out of the lockdown in England, calling it a "one-way road to freedom."

He had warned there will be more deaths from COVID-19 as the country "cautiously, but irreversibly" exits lockdown.
"We cannot escape the fact that lifting lockdown will result in more cases, more hospitalizations and sadly more deaths," he told lawmakers in the UK Parliament as he announced his roadmap toward lifting restrictions, according to CNN.
"No vaccine can ever be 100 per cent effective, not everyone will take them up and like all viruses, Covid-19 will mutate... There will always be some vulnerable people that will not be affected by vaccines," he had added.
Johnson had told lawmakers that step one would begin on March 8, as schools finally reopen across England, as well as the return of limited outdoor social interaction, such as sitting on a park bench with one other person. (ANI)