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| Coronavirus: Lockdown relaxed in England as 2m rule eased | Coronavirus: Lockdown relaxed in England as 2m rule eased |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| Pubs, restaurants, hotels and hairdressers can open from 4 July in England, when social distancing rules will be eased. | Pubs, restaurants, hotels and hairdressers can open from 4 July in England, when social distancing rules will be eased. |
| Prime Minister Boris Johnson said people should remain 2m apart where possible but a "one metre plus" rule will be introduced. | Prime Minister Boris Johnson said people should remain 2m apart where possible but a "one metre plus" rule will be introduced. |
| Two households in England will also be able to meet indoors and stay overnight - with social distancing. | Two households in England will also be able to meet indoors and stay overnight - with social distancing. |
| The prime minister warned that all steps were "reversible". | The prime minister warned that all steps were "reversible". |
| The meeting of households will not be exclusive, but unlike the bubble system people will have to maintain social distance - so family members who live apart could not hug. | The meeting of households will not be exclusive, but unlike the bubble system people will have to maintain social distance - so family members who live apart could not hug. |
| Mr Johnson said people will be encouraged to use "mitigation" - such as face coverings and not sitting face-to-face - when within 2m of each other and "where it is possible to keep 2m apart, people should". | |
| The prime minister said: "Our principle is to trust the British public to use their common sense in the full knowledge of the risks, remembering the more we open up, the more vigilant we need to be." | |
| In other changes weddings will be allowed to have 30 attendees, and places of worship will be allowed to hold services. | |
| When serving indoors, pubs and restaurants will only be allowed to offer table service, and venues will be asked to collect contact details of customers for the NHS Test and Trace system. | |
| Cinemas, art galleries and museums are allowed to reopen as are theatres and music halls, although they are not allowed to host live performances. | |
| What cannot open from 4 July? | |
| The following places will remain closed by law | |
| Read more detail on how lockdown measures are easing in England here. | |
| Mr Johnson said that the announcement meant "our long national hibernation is beginning to come to an end". | |
| Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said he welcomed the statement overall, adding " I believe the government is trying to do the right thing and in that I support them". | |
| He added he thought it was "safe for some children to return to school" and he urged clarity over getting all children back to school safely. | |
| Restrictions have to lift at some point. The big question is whether the UK is moving too soon. | |
| The number of infections has fallen dramatically. | |
| There are now just over 1,000 new cases a day on average. | |
| That compares to an estimated 100,000 at the peak at the end of March - we don't know the exact figure because there was limited testing in place. | |
| Huge progress has, therefore, been made. | |
| But the number of infections is still significantly higher than other countries. | |
| France and Germany are seeing less than half the number of infections that the UK is (and Germany has a larger population), while Italy has less than a quarter. | |
| It is why there are plenty of experts, including former government chief scientific adviser Sir David King, voicing concern that restrictions are easing too quickly. | |
| This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version. | This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version. |
| You can receive Breaking News on a smartphone or tablet via the BBC News App. You can also follow @BBCBreaking on Twitter to get the latest alerts. | You can receive Breaking News on a smartphone or tablet via the BBC News App. You can also follow @BBCBreaking on Twitter to get the latest alerts. |