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Coronavirus

22nd Feb 2021

This is Boris Johnson’s roadmap out of lockdown, in full

Wayne Farry

So here it is, the UK’s roadmap out of lockdown

For almost a year now, the United Kingdom has been in a perpetual state of locking down and reopening. We have grown used to this weird way of life, enjoying our time when society has been allowed to reopen, before begrudgingly trudging back into our caves when – shock, horror – cases once again go up.

This most recent lockdown – in which we still find ourselves – has been, most people will agree, the most difficult of all. It is common knowledge that the government’s decision to open areas up before Christmas – so as to allow festive business to flourish – contributed enormously to the extraordinary rise in cases that we are only now beginning to see tail off.

It is perhaps because of this that prime minister Boris Johnson has said he wants the impending the reopening to be the last, or as he put it, “irreversible”.

This is the roadmap for reopening the PM laid out in the Commons today.

STEP ONE

March 8th

People still legally required to stay at home

Schools to reopen in full

Recreation with household or one other person outside allowed

30 people allowed at funerals, 6 allowed at weddings or wakes

March 29th

Stay at home order reneged, but people advised to remain local. No holidays allowed

Meetings of either six people or two households permitted outside

Outdoor sport and leisure facilities allowed to reopen (tennis courts, golf courses)

Organised outdoor sport allowed for children and adults

Outdoor parent and child groups (up to 15 parents) allowed

STEP TWO

No earlier than April 12th

Indoor leisure – including gyms – open for use individually or for household groups

Rule of six or two households allowed to mix outside, not inside

Outdoor attractions – zoos, theme parks and drive-in cinemas – can reopen

Libraries and community centres reopen

Barbers, hairdressers and nail salons can reopen

All retail can reopen

Outdoor hospitality can reopen

Domestic overnight stays allowed (household only)

Minimised travel advised, no international holiday

Event pilots will begin

STEP THREE

No earlier than May 17th

Indoor entertainment and attractions allowed

30 person limit outdoors

Rule of six or two households indoors allowed

Domestic stays overnight allowed

Organised indoor adult sport can resume

Some large events will begin again, with 1,000 or 50% capacity indoors, and 4,000 or 50% capacity outdoors

Outdoor seated events allowed 10,000 or 25% of capacity – this includes professional sport

International travel allowed subject to review

STEP FOUR

No earlier than June 21st

No legal limits on social contact

Nightclubs can reopen

Larger events return

No legal limit on all life events, such as weddings, wakes and funerals

All of these steps are contingent, said the prime minister on the UK passing four key tests, and they are as follows:

That the UK’s vaccine deployment programme continues to be a success

That evidence shows jabs are sufficiently effective in reducing hospitalisations, deaths and transmissions in vaccinated people

That the NHS is not put under unsustainable pressure from a surge in infections and hospitalisations

That the government’s view of the risks is not fundamentally changed by new coronavirus variants