YOUR UNLOCKDOWN GUIDE

From bars to hairdressers and gyms to care homes, how life in England will change from the Glorious 12th (that’s next Monday)

WHAT WILL CHANGE ON APRIL 12?

▪ All non-essential shops will be allowed to reopen, as will hairdressers, beauty salons and gyms.

▪ Pubs, restaurants and cafes can reopen for outdoor service, but will have to wait until at least May 17 to serve customers indoors.

▪ Mass testing to be available, with everyone urged to take two tests per week.

▪ New care home rules will allow residents to have two visitors, rather than just one.

▪ Self-catering accommodation, including campsites, can reopen, but hotels and B&Bs must remain closed until at least May 17.

▪ Shops will be allowed to stay open until 10pm, six days a week, in a bid to reduce crowding.

▪ The maximum number of people allowed to attend weddings and wakes will rise from six to 15.

▪ Public buildings can reopen, as can outdoor attractions such as theme parks and zoos.

▪ Controversial hospitality rules such as the 10pm curfew and requirement to buy a ‘substantial meal’ with alcohol will be dropped.

▪ Clothes shops will be allowed to reopen their changing rooms for the first time in more than a year.

FOREIGN TRAVEL

▪ Public advised ‘not to book summer holidays abroad until the picture is clearer’.

▪ No update on whether foreign travel will be allowed to resume from May 17, the earliest date identified in the original roadmap.

▪ A new traffic light system will govern foreign travel when it is allowed to restart.

▪ Green-rated countries, where vaccination levels are high but case numbers are low: Travellers will have to take tests before and after flying home but will not need to quarantine. No countries named, but Israel and Iceland could be among the first.

▪ Amber-rated countries: Travellers will have to take tests before and after their journeys and will need to quarantine for ten days at home on return.

▪ Red-rated countries, including South Africa and Brazil: Direct flights are banned and anyone returning home will have to undertake ten days’ hotel quarantine at a cost of £1,750.

▪ Travellers will have to pay for their own Covid tests, at a cost of around £100 each.

MASS EVENTS

▪ Pilot schemes to return large audiences are to start next week when 300 people attend Liverpool’s Hot Water Comedy Club on April 16.

▪ Trials will look at limiting entry to people who have tested negative for Covid.

▪ Venues will experiment with

improved ventilation and will also trial different forms of social distancing.

▪ First nightclub evening in more than a year when 3,000 people attend Circus in Liverpool on April 30.

▪ Ministers hope to trial vaccine passports at the FA Cup final at Wembley on May 15, when up to 20,000 fans will be allowed in.

VACCINE PASSPORTS

▪ Covid certification ‘likely to be a feature of our lives’.

▪ Vaccine passports could help theatres, nightclubs and stadiums reopen with bigger crowds.

▪ System could also be used to allow ‘reduced social distancing requirements’ in pubs and restaurants.

▪ Negative Covid test or proof you have had the virus

in the past six months and have antibodies could be used as alternatives for people not vaccinated.

▪ Government says businesses already have the right to bar customers who pose a health risk and says it would be an ‘unjustified intrusion’ to stop them.

▪ Vaccine passports will not be allowed to limit access to supermarkets, GP surgeries or public transport.

▪ Ministers are in talks with other countries about possible requirements for foreign travel.

▪ Plan will get ‘appropriate parliamentary scrutiny’ but no commitment to a Commons vote.

▪ NHS is developing both digital and paper systems for people to prove they have had the vaccine.

▪ Scheme will not come in until at least June 21.

SOCIAL DISTANCING

▪ Review led by Michael Gove will look at whether distancing rules can be relaxed to allow ‘closer social contact’ between family and friends and increase numbers of people in offices and on public transport.

▪ Ministers will consider if and when it will be possible to ‘lift or amend’ the onemetre rule.

▪ The review will report back by June 21.