Millions more people in the Midlands and North West of England are being urged not to travel or meet people indoors in an attempt to curb the spread of the Indian Covid variant.

In guidance released last night, roughly 3.6million residents in Birmingham, Liverpool, Warrington and parts of Cheshire were asked to minimise their movements in and out of the affected areas, which are recording higher than average levels of the mutant strain.

But Boris Johnson made no mention of the fresh advice in his dramatic Downing Street press conference last night, where he confirmed England's final unlocking would be pushed back by four weeks amid fears the mutant strain could overwhelm hospitals.

Remaining lockdown restrictions are now due to be lifted on July 19, which the Prime Minister last night promised would be the 'terminus date'.

The Government today doubled down on its new Freedom Day pledge, with Michael Gove saying he was 'as confident as confident can be about that date', despite fears from backbench Tory MPs that the goalposts will be moved once again.

Asked about whether the Prime Minister could put Tory fears to bed this afternoon, Mr Johnson's official spokesman said 'there is not a significant benefit from a further delay beyond the four weeks because of the success of the vaccination programme.' 

The six authorities hit with the new guidance are also being offered a 'package of support' from the Government which includes surge testing, enhanced contact tracing and financial support to Covid cases and their contacts who have been asked to self-isolate.

The Army will be sent in to help carry out the extra testing to flush out cases of the virus, while NHS boards in the area will be given extra help to ensure vaccine uptake is as high as possible.

Residents are also being asked to get tested twice a week. 

They join the 4m people in Greater Manchester and Lancashire, who were placed under the new rules last week. The enhanced measures cover around 9.3m residents across England, the equivalent of 16 per cent of the entire population.

The spread of the Indian variant — believed to be 60 per cent more infectious than the Kent strain and twice as likely to put unvaccinated people in hospital — has led to No10 pumping the brakes on England's June 21 Freedom Day. 

Mr Johnson's spokesman said the month-long delay would save 'thousands' of lives, but this morning prominent SAGE member Professor Graham Medley warned that even with the extra month, Britain could still suffer hundreds of Covid deaths every day.

Meanwhile, Cabinet Office minister Mr Gove insisted that the country will need to 'learn to live with the virus' — even if it causes hundreds of deaths a day. 

Asked if he could promise that the final unlocking will go ahead next month, he replied 'yes' and added that only a 'bizarre and unprecedented' development in the Covid crisis could derail the plans. 

He told ITV's Good Morning Britain: 'None of us can predict the future with 100 per cent certainty...

But, on the basis of all the information that we have, then we will have successfully protected such a large section of population, and of course children will be facing summer holidays and that brings the infection rate down. So we're as confident as confident can be about that date.'

But Tory MPs are sceptical that the July 19 date will go ahead. Former minister Mark Harper, chairman of the Covid Recovery Group (CRG) of Tory MPs, tweeted: 'We've heard ministers say they're pretty confident about lifting restrictions before and then do the opposite.'