Four tests met to allow easing
PRIME Minister Boris Johnson has confirmed England will proceed to Step Three of the roadmap out of lockdown one week today, on Monday May 17.
At the same time Mr Johnson has issued new guidance on hugging, reports The Mirror.
Mr Johnson, leading a press conference from Downing Street alongside England’s chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty and the Government’s chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance, said the government had met the four tests for proceeding with the roadmap.
These are:
■Successful vaccine rollout
■Vaccines reducing hospitalisations and deaths
■Infection rates do not risk overwhelming NHS
■Variants have not fundamentally changed the risks
Main lockdown lifting changes from May 17:
From May 17 in England, people can meet outdoors in groups of up to 30 people. People can meet indoors in groups of up to six people or a maximum of two households or bubbles, whichever is larger.
Pubs, bars and restaurants will be allowed to reopen indoor areas for the first time since the New Year.
Also opening on May 17 are indoor entertainment including cinemas, museums and children’ play areas.
Theatres, concert halls, conference halls and sports stadia can also reopen to larger events, with capacity limits.
Organised adult sport and exercise classes will be allowed indoors, and saunas and steam rooms can reopen.
Domestic overnight stays with friends and family will be allowed, as will staying in a venue with people from a different household.
Hotels, hostels and B&BS will reopen - previously only selfcontained venues with your own household were allowed.
The 30-mourner limit at funerals will be axed. Instead funerals can have any number of mourners as long as it is within the venue’s Covid-safe capacity with social distancing.
Babies and young children are included in the 30- and six-person limits on gatherings - they are not exempt. One exception to this is for support groups and parent and child groups. These can take place with up to 30 people, plus any number of children under five on top of that limit.
There are no plans to give any exemption to current rules before May 17 for the upcoming festival of Eid.
New rules on hugging from May 17 From May 17, the government will axe guidance in place since March 2020 that says people in England should socially distance - stay two metres apart - from anyone outside their household or bubble.
Instead, people will be told they can choose whether to socially distance from family and close friends.
This means people can choose to hug, kiss or shake hands with friends or relatives in the park or in a home.
Importantly, this will be aimed at people meeting within legally-allowed group sizes - six indoors, 30 outdoors.
It does not apply to people from two different small gatherings hugging, or strangers hugging in the street or a pub.
People will be told to exercise their own personal judgement in line with the risks.
They will be urged to remain cautious, because some people are more vulnerable to severe illness than others and vaccines do not eliminate the risk from Covid.
People do not have to take a lateral flow test before hugging, but it is one way of reducing the spread of the disease. Likewise people could meet indoors or with the windows open, or wear masks, if they choose to.
There is no limit to the amount