World

Boris Johnson unveils plan to end England restrictions by 21 June

February 23, 2021 10:14 am

Prime Minister Boris Johnson

A new four-step plan to ease England’s lockdown could see all legal limits on social contact lifted by 21 June, if strict conditions are met.

Shops, hairdressers, gyms and outdoor hospitality could reopen on 12 April in England under plans set out by the PM.

From 17 May, two households might be allowed to mix in homes, while the rule of six could apply in places like pubs.

Article continues after advertisement

It requires four tests on vaccines, infection rates and new coronavirus variants to be met at each stage.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson told MPs the plan aimed to be “cautious but irreversible” and at every stage decisions would be led by “data not dates”.

There was “no credible route to a zero-Covid Britain nor indeed a zero-Covid world”, he said.

Mr Johnson later told a Downing Street news conference the coming spring and summer would be “seasons of hope, looking and feeling incomparably better for us all”.

He described the plan as a “one-way road to freedom” but said he could not guarantee it would be irreversible “but the intention is that it should be”.

It comes as the first data on the UK’s coronavirus vaccine rollout suggested it was having a “spectacular” impact on stopping serious illness.