Most coronavirus restrictions are set to end on 19 July as part of the final step of England’s roadmap out of the lockdown, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed on Monday.
Face masks and distancing rules will no longer be legally required in England from 19 July, Johnson told a news conference at Downing Street.
The rule of six inside private homes will also be removed and work-from-home guidance will be scrapped, said the Prime Minister.
The British government is only responsible for coronavirus restrictions in England. The devolved governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are responsible for their own policies in relation to public health matters, the Xinhua news agency reported.
Johnson previously announced a four-week delay to the final step of England’s roadmap out of Covid-19 restrictions until 19 July, amid a surge in cases of the Delta variant first identified in India.
Britain reported another 27,334 coronavirus cases in the 24-hour period, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 4,930,534, according to official figures released on Monday.
The country also recorded another nine coronavirus-related deaths. The total number of coronavirus-related deaths in Britain now stands at 128,231. These figures only include the deaths of people who died within 28 days of their first positive test.
More than 45.3 million people in Britain have received the first jab of Covid-19 vaccine and over 33.7 million people have received two doses, the official figures showed.
To bring life back to normal, countries such as Britain, China, Russia, the United States as well as the European Union have been racing against time to roll out coronavirus vaccines.