(Bloomberg) --

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he is now less optimistic about the U.K.’s pandemic outlook, suggesting restrictions may need to be kept in place beyond his target date for relaxing the rules on June 21.

Speaking to broadcasters at the Group of Seven summit in Cornwall, Johnson said the government will be “cautious” about taking the final step out of lockdown restrictions.

Officials will be studying the latest data on the spread of the now dominant delta variant first discovered in India before making an announcement about the next step on Monday June 14, he said.

“It’s clear that the Indian variant is more transmissible and it’s also true that the cases are going up, and that the levels of hospitalisation are going up,” Johnson said in an interview with Sky News. “Now, we don’t know exactly to what extent that is going to feed through into extra mortality, but clearly it’s a matter of serious, serious concern.”

Asked if he was less optimistic now than he was at the end of May, he said: “Yes, that’s certainly fair. What we want to do is make sure that the roadmap is irreversible, but you can’t have an irreversible roadmap unless you’re prepared to be cautious.”

(Adds Johnson comments)

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