UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday announced July 4 as the date for a significant lifting of lockdown restrictions in the country, with cinemas, museums, bars, pubs and restaurants being allowed to open their doors to the public once again.
The venues, which have been closed for at least three months since the UK went into its official coronavirus-induced lockdown on March 23, will be required to have safety measures set out under government guidance in place to be able to operate.
"Our long national hibernation is beginning to come to an end. The bustle is beginning to come back. A new, but cautious optimism is palpable," Johnson said, amid cheers in the House of Commons.
"The government will publish COVID-secure guidelines for each sector that is reopening as businesses get back on their feet and people get back to work," he said.
"But the virus has not gone away. there will be flare-ups, for which local measures will be required. We will not hesitate to apply the brakes and reimpose restrictions even at a national level," he said in his statement.
The Cabinet met earlier on Tuesday to officially rubber-stamp the decision to allow public venues, including theatres and businesses such as hairdressers, to reopen and effectively mark an end to the lockdown on what some British MPs have dubbed as July 4 "Super Saturday" .
The UK PM also confirmed that the current mandatory 2-metre social distancing rule will be halved to 1 metre (3ft 3in) from July 4, with some mitigating measures.
The government had come under pressure from the hospitality sector, and some MPs from within the ruling Conservative Party, to relax the 2m rule, with many saying it would be impossible to trade under the current measures.
"People will be advised to keep one metre -plus in places where two-metres are not possible," Johnson said.
Britain’s biscuit factory hit by COVID-19
A cookie factory in the UK which supplies McVities biscuits has reported coronavirus cases among five of its staff members, prompting health officials to investigate the COVID-19 infections.
Public Health England (PHE) said it was aware of cases at the Pladis Factory in the South Wigston village in the south of Leicester.
"Public Health England is aware of the cases of COVID-19 in staff members at the Pladis Factory in South Wigston and supporting the companies involved," a Public Health England statement said. An unnamed employee from the factory claimed that five members of staff at the 250-employee factory had tested positive for COVID-19.
"Most workers have no option but to risk going into work, also the factory employees are a lot of BAME (black, Asian and minority ethnic) workers who are more at risk and many are from deprived areas," the employee told 'Leicestershire Live'.
