Boris Johnson has urged caution as England moves to the next step of unlocking after three months of lockdown

“I’m sure it will be a huge relief for those business owners who have been closed for so long, and for everyone else it’s a chance to get back to doing some of the things we love and have missed,” he said in a statement on Sunday.

“I urge everyone to continue to behave responsibly and remember ‘hands, face, space and fresh air’ to suppress COVID as we push on with our vaccination programme.”

From today,Non-essential shops, hairdressers, gyms and outdoor hospitality can open – though no indoor mixing of households is allowed.

  • Customers do not have to buy a substantial meal to have an alcoholic drink and there is no curfew but people have to be seated when ordering and eating or drinking
  • Two specified people can visit care home residents
  • Children can attend indoor children’s activities, including sport
  • Parent and child groups of up to 15 people (not counting children aged under five) can restart indoors
  • Self-catering holidays in the UK with your own household is allowed
  • Funerals of up to 30 people. Weddings and wakes of up to 15 people
  • Driving lessons are allowed but tests can not take place until 22 April

However the following are still prohibited

  • Indoor socialising continues to be prohibited – people should continue to keep their distance from anyone not in their household or support bubble
  • Foreign holidays remain illegal until at least 17 May
  • People are still barred from exercise classes
  • Museums, cinemas and children’s play areas remain closed
  • Most students can still not return to university

Primark is welcoming customers back to its 161 stores in England and Wales today, as consumers make a much-anticipated return to the high street. Stores are fully stocked with fresh new Spring/Summer ranges, from new season trends to great value everyday essentials and all at the amazing prices that customers know and love.

Safety remains Primark’s number one priority so employees and customers can return to stores with confidence, maintaining the high safety standards in place in stores over the past year.

Primark will have extended store opening hours this week initially, with stores opening for two hours extra per day on average. This will help reduce queues, spread demand and give customers more time to shop safely.

Primark CEO, Paul Marchant, said: “We are thrilled to open our doors today and welcome customers back to Primark. We have been working really hard to get our stores ready to open safely; we are fully stocked with everything our customers have been waiting for, from fresh new season fashion to our great value, everyday must-haves, all at our amazing prices.

Safety is our top priority for re-opening, and we ask our customers to continue supporting us and be mindful of our in-store measures, in particular if queuing outside and in-store. We are expecting a busy few days and have increased opening hours across our stores for the first week initially, to reduce queues and help meet demand safely.”

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