Children are set to go back to school and adults given new freedoms to meet outside from early March under government plans to loosen lockdown.
Boris Johnson is expected outline the changes in an address to the nation later this month, having said on Saturday that he was cautiously “optimistic” about falling cases.
But any loosening of the rules is expected to be cautious, with ministers on Sunday rejecting an “arbitary” call from Tory backbenchers to lift all regulations.
Under current government thinking, from 8 March people will be able to meet one friend from outside their household for a coffee on a park bench or picnic outside.
But mixing inside and larger gatherings will remain against the rules.
At around the same time, children are expected to be sent back to school – with debate continuing in Whitehall about whether primary and secondary schools will go back at the same time.
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The prime minister said on Saturday he “very much hoped” also to reopen schools at the same time but he also said the government wanted to monitor any changes to the R rate before unlocking too much.
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The planned relaxation is likely to provide comfort to some of Mr Johnson’s Tory backbenchers, who have been lobbying for restrictions to be lifted on the back of the vaccination programme.
But scientific advisors have been urging caution and say lifting all restrictions now would invite another wave of infections.
In letter to the prime minister, the leaders of the Covid Recovery Group (CRG) had said the “tremendous pace” of the vaccine rollout meant restrictions in England should begin easing.
The letter was organised by outspoken lockdown critics Mark Harper and Steve Baker, and claimed the backing of 63 Conservative MPs.
They said schools “must” return from 8 March and called for pubs and restaurants to reopen by Easter.
But speaking on Sunday morning Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, rejected calls for an “arbitrary commitment” to lift all coronavirus restrictions by the end of April.
“We do need to be very careful how we proceed. We have made good progress. We don’t want to see that unravel because we go too far too quick,” Mr Raab said.
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14 February 2021
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13 February 2021
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10 February 2021
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9 Februrary 2021
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8 February 2021
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7 February 2021
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6 February 2021
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5 February 2021
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4 February 2021
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3 February 2021
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1 February 2021
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31 January 2021
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30 January 2021
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29 January 2021
Members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community take part in Friday prayers at the Baitus Subhan Mosque in Croydon, England. For nearly the past year, the Covid-19 pandemic, and its resulting limits on public gatherings, have forced religious communities to find new ways to observe prayers, with many events being marked at home. Mosques as well as other places of religious worship remain open, though numbers have been limited to help maintain social distancing
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28 January 2021
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27 January 2021
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26 January 2021
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25 January 2021
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24 Janaury 2021
People go sledging in the snow on Parliament Hill on Hampstead Heath
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23 January 2021
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22 January 2021
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21 January 2021
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20 January 2021
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19 January 2021
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18 January 2021
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson stands outside a room where technicians are manufacturing the AstraZeneca covid-19 vaccine at Oxford Biomedica, in Oxford
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17 January 2021
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16 January 2021
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15 January 2021
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14 January 2021
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13 January 2021
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12 January 2021
The sun rises behind Scarborough Castle in Yorkshire
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11 January 2021
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10 January 2021
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9 January 2021
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8 January 2021
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7 January 2021
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6 January 2021
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5 January 2021
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4 January 2021
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3 January 2021
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2 January 2020
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1 January 2020
Ollie King, 22, and his sister Laura, 19, take a dip into the sea at King Edward’s Bay in Tynemouth
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31 December 2020
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30 December 2020
Ambulances outside the Royal London Hospital. NHS England figures show England’s hospitals now have more Covid-19 patients than during April’s first-wave peak, with reports of ambulances carrying coronavirus patients forced to queue outside hospitals
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29 December 2020
A lorry travels along the M9 near Falkirk, Scotland after severe lockdown restrictions were announced for December and January with all of the country moving into the highest level of lockdown
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28 December 2020
Krystyna (right) pulling Isaac,7, making the most of the snowfall, going sledging in Tatton Park, Knutsford, in Cheshire
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27 December 2020
Anthony Gleave and his son Arthur, 3, canoe along the flooded A1101 in Welney, Norfolk
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“We are not making what feels to me like a slightly arbitrary commitment without reviewing the impact that measures have had on the transmission and the hospital admissions of the virus.
“I don’t think you can set though an arbitrary target and not be evidence-led, which is why the review point on 22 February is so important.”
