Sheffield news LIVE: Matt Hancock ‘absolutely open’ to delaying June 21 reopening

“I think the most important words in the sentence are ‘we tried to’. It was very hard,” he said.

“Each and every death in a care home weighs heavily and always will. We knew from the start from very early in January that the impact of this disease was most significant on the oldest and therefore care homes were going to be a particular risk.

“We put in funding. We made sure PPE was as available as possible. We set guidance for care homes. Then later when we had the testing capacity – in July – we brought in weekly testing for staff.”

Mr Hancock said that at the beginning of the pandemic his powers over social care were “extremely limited” and that the Department of Health and Social Care did not even have a list of care homes in England.

Mr Hancock was questioned over allegations Dominic Cummings previously made before the Health and Social Care Committee and Science and Technology Committee.

Asked by science committee chairman Greg Clark if he ever said anything to the Prime Minister he knew was untrue, Mr Hancock simply replied: “No.”

This is up from 801 a week earlier.

The seven-day average currently stands at 827 patients, the highest since May 17.

In north-west England the number of patients is currently 256, the highest since April 20.

A total of 131 hospital admissions of people with Covid-19 in England were reported for June 7, NHS England also said.

This is up from 98 a week earlier and is the highest number since April 19.

The seven-day average for admissions currently stands at 108, the highest since April 27.

The figures cover all patients admitted in the previous 24 hours who were known to have Covid-19, plus any patients diagnosed in hospital with Covid-19 in the previous 24 hours.

“Almost certainly I think deaths probably will be lower – the vaccines are having a highly protective effect, cases in hospital now are milder – but it still could be quite worrying.”

Prof Ferguson said that models submitted to the Government looked at the “plusses and minuses” of reopening, but added: “I mean, fundamentally, it is for policymakers to take that on board.

“You have to be more cautious if you want measures to be irreversibly changed and relaxed, but the Government will decide in the next few days.”

He said the country has not yet seen a “huge surge in transmission” from step three of the road map, “but that may still be coming”.

Sheffield’s director of public health Gregg Fell said moving to step 4 is likely to lead to another wave of cases.

He said: “I get that we all want it to be over. I do.

“But we can’t alter the virus, but we can alter the outcome of of the virus depending on how we behave . You can steer the path between perpetual lockdown versus letting the virus rip through the as yet unvaccinated people. We will remain in that space for the remainder of the Summer.”

Figures show infection rates in South Yorkshire have risen but remain low.

Barnsley had the highest infection rate with 45 cases per 100,000 people. The national average is 50 cases per 100,000.

In our region the infection rate went up by a fifth with 498 infections in the week to June 5. compared with 408 the week before.

Boris Johnson has said the Government will assess the impact the coronavirus vaccination programme is having before deciding whether to go ahead with the next stage of lockdown lifting in England.

Speaking during a visit to Cornwall, the Prime Minister said: “I think what everybody can see very clearly is that cases are going up and, in some places, hospitalisations are going up.

“I think what we need to assess is the extent to which the vaccine rollout, which has been phenomenal, has built up enough protection in the population in order for us to go ahead to the next stage.

“That’s what we’ll be looking at. There are arguments being made one way or the other. But we will be driven by the data. We’ll be looking at that and we’ll be setting it out on Monday.”

In our region the infection rate went up by a fifth with 498 infections in the week to June 5. compared with 408 the week before.

Sheffield’s director of public health Gregg Fell said moving to step 4 is likely to lead to another wave of cases.

He said: “I get that we all want it to be over. I do.

“But we can’t alter the virus, but we can alter the outcome of of the virus depending on how we behave . You can steer the path between perpetual lockdown versus letting the virus rip through the as yet unvaccinated people. We will remain in that space for the remainder of the Summer.”

Figures show infection rates in South Yorkshire have risen but remain low.

Barnsley had the highest infection rate with 45 cases per 100,000 people. The national average is 50 cases per 100,000.

Boris Johnson has said the Government will assess the impact the coronavirus vaccination programme is having before deciding whether to go ahead with the next stage of lockdown lifting in England.

Speaking during a visit to Cornwall, the Prime Minister said: “I think what everybody can see very clearly is that cases are going up and, in some places, hospitalisations are going up.

“I think what we need to assess is the extent to which the vaccine rollout, which has been phenomenal, has built up enough protection in the population in order for us to go ahead to the next stage.

“That’s what we’ll be looking at. There are arguments being made one way or the other. But we will be driven by the data. We’ll be looking at that and we’ll be setting it out on Monday.”