THE two-metre rule will be changed to ‘one-metre plus’ for the general public from July 4 and the hospitality section has also been given the thumbs up to reopen.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the new measures in Parliament this afternoon.
Hotels, pubs, restaurants, libraries, museums, hairdressers, cinemas and even caravan sites will be able to open from next month.
But indoor gyms, spas, bowling alleys and nightclubs will remain shut as they still pose too much of a risk.
The PM advised people to remain two metres apart where possible but said one metre plus would be okay in certain settings.
One metre plus means the public will have to take extra precautions, such as wearing a mask or being outdoors to reduce the risk.
Mr Johnson said people will need to use their ‘common sense’.
From July 4 people will also be allowed to meet with one other household at a time indoors – subject to social distancing.
Mr Johnson said: “It doesn’t have to always be the same household. It could be one set of grandparents one weekend and another set of grandparents the next.
“But we are not suggesting several households meet at once.”
Sleepovers are permitted.
The new rules are said to be ‘government guidance’ rather than legislation.
The PM delivered the good news after announcing that four weeks ago an average of one in 400 people had Covid-19 in the UK.
But in the first half of June this figure changed to one in 1,700.
On Sunday Britain recorded the lowest daily death toll since mid-March.
And the number of new cases dropped to below 1,000 for the first time since lockdown began.
The PM added that schools in England will reopen in September for primary and secondary school pupils.
