Yes the numbers are really coming down now. And as mentioned by me and others on here when we get to 8th March it's going to be ridiculous that the "Stay at Home. Protect the NHS. Save Lives" slogan/rule is still going. In the first lockdown the "Stay at Home" rule was dropped after 7 weeks, and that was without the vaccines. And now we have the vaccines, and all the stats are absolutely tumbling.
There was some mention that the decrease of the numbers of new cases had slowed down a bit. Well that was the case, as I remember it had fallen to about -25% but then fell back to about -11%. Well the decrease has since speeded up again, as it's now -31%! But even if the numbers of new cases do start surging again, well it's been announced that the link between new cases leading to hospital admissions and deaths has been broken!
By the end of this month, those stats are going to be a hell of a lot better again. Rough estimates from me - numbers of new cases below 1,000, deaths below 50, numbers in hospital below 2,000, and all stats still continuing to fall. It could very much be argued as to why we would have to wait all the way until 21st June for all restrictions to be scrapped. The 31st May for all restrictions to be scrapped would be far fairer.