Another lockdown is expected in winter if the NHS is overrun by a rise in cases of the Delta variant of Covid-19, an expert has warned.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) shared the bleak news that a third wave “definitely” underway as infection rates rise across the country.

Professor Adam Finn, who advises the Government on the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), has said a "third wave" of coronavirus infections "is definitely under way".

Hopes of an irreversible end to lockdown in England on July 5 were also dampened as Dr Susan Hopkins appeared on The Andrew Marr Show.

Public Health England’s strategic response director said: "We may have to do further lockdowns this winter, I can't predict the future, it depends on whether hospitals start to become overwhelmed.

"We are definitely seeing some signals in some areas of cases slowing down, Bolton for example has definitely reversed, Blackburn and Darwen has stabilised.

"But there are other parts of the country, particularly in some parts of the north-east, some parts of London that are still rising quite fast.

"So, I think this is not all doing the same thing all over the country, and we're seeing rises and falls as people go out and get tested and I think we are seeing the impact of vaccination and that is good news."

She added: "The extra time to vaccinate more people, get two doses of vaccination in as many people as possible will hopefully mean that what we're seeing with this wave won't look the same as the previous waves that we've seen in this country."