England could be put back into lockdown within five weeks as Covid cases surge, Chris Whitty has warned.

The chief medical officer said hospitalisations are doubling about every three weeks and could hit "quite scary numbers".

His warning comes days before July 19's 'Freedom Day' and the final step in Boris Johnson's roadmap out of lockdown.

But Prof Whitty said the country is "not out of the woods yet" as cases rocketed to the highest level in six months.

Surrey Comet: Daily confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the UKDaily confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the UK

The PM may have to "look again" at reimposing restrictions in in "five, six, seven eight weeks' time", Mr Whitty added.

Speaking at a Science Museum webinar yesterday, Prof Whitty said: "I don't think we should underestimate the fact that we could get into trouble again surprisingly fast."

He added: "We are not by any means out of the woods yet on this, we are in much better shape due to the vaccine programme, and drugs and a variety of other things.

"But this has got a long way to run in the UK, and it's got even further to run globally."

Rules in England on social distancing, mandatory masks and orders to work from home will be swept away from Monday.

But Prof Whitty cautioned that if vaccines weren't "topping out" the virus the PM may have to "look again" at reimposing restrictions in in "five, six, seven eight weeks' time".

Another 63 deaths were reported in Britain yesterday, the highest number since March.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid has warned cases could reach 100,000 a day over the summer.

Prof Whitty added: "We've still got over 2,000 people in hospital, and that number is increasing.

"I don't think we should underestimate the fact that we could get into trouble again surprisingly fast

"If we double from 2,000 to 4,000, from 4,000 to 8,000, to 8,000 and so on, it doesn't take many doubling times till you're into very very large numbers indeed."

He added: "This epidemic is doubling. It's doubling in cases. It is also doubling in people going to hospital, and it's doubling in deaths."

A total of 253,049 confirmed and probable cases of the Covid-19 Delta variant have now been identified in the UK, according to the latest figures from Public Health England – up by 36,800 from 216,249 cases in the previous week, a rise of 17 per cent.

Of the 253,049 cases, 209,926 have been in England, 32,708 in Scotland, 5,601 in Wales and 4,814 in Northern Ireland.

The Delta variant continues to account for approximately 99 per cent of confirmed cases of coronavirus across the UK.