New British health minister says virus curbs to end on July 19

Britain's newly appointed Health Secretary has confirmed that coronavirus restrictions will remain in place until July 19, but that the lifting of health regulations after that date will be irreversible.

Addressing Parliament in London on Monday, Mr Sajid Javid admitted that extending restrictions for three more weeks is not the news the people of Britain would have hoped for.

Nevertheless - and in defiance of a sharp rise in Covid-19 infections - Mr Javid told lawmakers that July 19 will mark a radical change in Britain's response to the pandemic; the date, he told MPs, is "not only the end of the line, but the start of an exciting new journey for our country".

Mr Javid has just taken over ministerial responsibility after Mr Matt Hancock, his predecessor in the post and the man who bore the brunt of managing the pandemic, was forced to resign because of revelations that he had broken social distancing rules by engaging in an affair with a ministerial aide; CCTV camera shots of the two kissing just outside Mr Hancock's government office sealed his fate.

However, unlike previous holders of the health ministry portfolio, who tended to be more junior politicians, Mr Javid is a political heavy-hitter.

The son of a bus driver who emigrated to Britain from Pakistan, the 50-year-old Mr Javid enjoyed a successful career in banking which included a period of work in Singapore before entering politics, where he also experienced a meteoric rise.

A decade ago, he became the first MP of Asian origins to hold a Cabinet-rank post in Britain, and since then, he has bagged some of the most significant political appointments, including those of home secretary and, subsequently, the position of finance minister.

His appointment to the health portfolio has allowed Prime Minister Boris Johnson to limit the damage inflicted on the government by the scandal, which derailed the career of the previous minister.

Even the British government's toughest critics acknowledge that the new health supremo is both a competent administrator and a shrewd political operator.

Mr Javid will need all these qualities, for the tasks facing him are daunting. As he briefed MPs for the first time about his priorities, the number of daily new Covid-19 infections in Britain passed the 22,000 mark, about 50 per cent higher than the daily figures recorded during the preceding week and the highest since the start of this year.

Rising figures are being recorded even though around two-thirds of all UK adults aged above 18 are now fully vaccinated, and 85 per cent of adults have had at least a first dose of a vaccine.

The new health minister takes comfort from the fact that deaths from coronavirus infections are now mercifully low, running into single digits daily.

Apart from the need to limit any further damage to the national economy, Mr Javid is keen to divert resources away from managing the pandemic to deal with the next ticking health bomb: the huge arrears building up in the treatment of citizens suffering from other medical conditions.

In addition, the authorities fear that, as the weather gets colder in a few months, Britain may experience a new nasty flu epidemic that had been - until now - suppressed, thanks to the social distancing measures imposed in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Britain's new health minister must hope that his promise to take the country on "an exciting new journey" does not hit some new and grim obstacles.