Only two doubly vaccinated people under 50 died from the Delta variant

Only two fully vaccinated people under the age of 50 have died from the Delta variant of the coronavirus, new figures show.

That’s out of a total of 5,600 people under the age of 50 with a double bite who had contracted the disease in England until June 21.

Among double-needled people over the age of 50 with the Delta variant, there were 116 deaths in 5,234 cases.

Overall, there had been 259 deaths out of 170,063 Delta cases up to July 5, according to the Public Health England (PHE) technical briefing released on Friday.

PHE epidemiologist Meaghan Kall wrote on Twitter that this case fatality rate of 0.2% – which means two deaths in 1,000 Delta cases – is down from 0.3% two weeks ago and is “very encouraging.”

Watch: Friday’s political briefing

The new figures – which also show there were 313 overnight hospitalizations out of 10,834 double-needled people as of June 21 – are further evidence that vaccines have weakened the link between infection and serious illness, even so infections have skyrocketed due to the 60% more infectious Delta variant.

It comes after Health Secretary Sajid Javid said he was ‘comfortable’ with England’s end of lockdown schedule – currently set for July 19 and to be confirmed by Boris Johnson on Monday – despite the increase in cases.

“We feel very comfortable with the plans that we have established, despite the increase that we are going to see in infections,” Javid told the Local Government Association.

“I think they’re going to be a lot higher by July 19 than they are today, I think in August they’re going to be even higher than that.

“But it’s the vaccine that works and that’s what gives us confidence.”

Johnson has previously said cases across the UK are expected to reach 50,000 a day by July 19, with Javid going further and saying there could be 100,000 a day after the restrictions are lifted.

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Scientists warned on Thursday that thousands of people would die if the lockdown ends as scheduled on July 19. Johnson was warned: “Those who claim victory too easily will fail.”

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However, the summer unlock was backed by Professor Chris Whitty, the UK’s foremost COVID scientist, who said he had “a pretty solid opinion” that lifting the lock in summer has advantages over in the fall due to seasonal pressures on the NHS.

Professor Neil Ferguson, the scientist whose modeling convinced the Prime Minister to impose the first lockdown in March of last year, also said this week that lifting the lockdown, while being a “gamble,” is “justifiable”.

Watch: What you need to know about COVID-19 variants