THE Tories should delay unlocking restrictions this month as Britain grapples with an early third wave of Covid-19, a government adviser warned today.

Professor Ravi Gupta of the University of Cambridge said that there has been an exponential growth in the number of Covid-19 cases, fuelled by the so-called Indian variant. 

Britain is now showing signs of an “early third wave,” he said, with cases rising on Sunday by more than 3,000 for a fifth day in a row. 

“Of course the numbers of cases are relatively low at the moment — all waves start with low numbers of cases that grumble in the background and then become explosive, so the key here is that what we are seeing here is the signs of an early wave,” he told the BBC Today programme. 

The professor said that while high levels of vaccination rates are likely to slow the surge in cases, he expressed concerns that jabs were giving people a “false sense of security.” 

Mr Gupta, who is a member of the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (Nervtag), called for the ending of Covid-19 restrictions on June 21 in England to be delayed by a few weeks in order to gather more intelligence. 

“If you look at the costs and benefits of getting it wrong, I think it is heavily in favour of delay,” he said. 

Covid-19 related deaths have also risen significantly in recent weeks. Between May 24 and 30, there were 60 deaths reported within 28 days of a positive coronavirus test — up 42.9 per cent compared to the previous week. 

In Liverpool, public health figures warned today that infection rates have doubled in one week. 

But in Bolton, which had the highest infection rate in England earlier this month, the growth in cases has begun to slow in recent days. 

A final decision on whether restrictions will be lifted in England will be reached on June 14. 

Environment Secretary George Eustice said today that the government was not ruling out delaying the final stage of relaxation next month. 

Mr Eustice said the decision would need to be made a couple of weeks before the June 21 date to assess the impact of the latest easing of restrictions on May 17.