The legal obligation to wear face coverings and be socially-distanced is scheduled to end on 19 July.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson outlined a five-point plan
The measure was among several announced late this afternoon by Prime Minister Boris Johnson as he pledged that Britain would take step four of the roadmap out of the pandemic.
Stressing that a final decision on the measures would be taken on 12 July, he outlined a five-point plan.
Mr Johnson said: "I want to stress from the outset that this pandemic is far from over. It certainly won't be over by the 19th.
"As we predicted in the roadmap in February, we're seeing cases rise fairly rapidly. There could be 50,000 cases detected per day by the 19th and, again as we predicted, we're seeing rising hospital admissions and we must reconcile ourselves, sadly, to more deaths from covid.
"In these circumstances we must take a careful and a balanced decision. There is only one reason why we can contemplate going ahead to step four in circumstances where we would normally be locking down further, and that is because of the continuing effectiveness of the vaccine rollout."
The first of the five points in the plan outlined by the Prime Minister for 19 July was the reduction of the vaccine interval between doses for people aged under 40 from 12 weeks to eight, so that everybody aged over 18 should have had both jabs by mid-September.
Turning to the second point, Mr Johnson said: "We will change the basic tools we have used to control human behaviour. We will move away from legal restrictions and allow people to make their own informed decisions about how to manage the virus.
"From step four we will remove all legal limits on the numbers meeting indoors and outdoors. We will allow all businesses to reopen, including nightclubs. We will lift the limit on named visitors to care homes and on numbers of people attending concerts, theatre and sports events.
"We will end the one metre-plus rule on social distancing and the legal obligation to wear a face covering, although guidance will suggest where you might choose to do so, especially where cases are rising and where you come into contact with people you don't normally meet in enclosed spaces such as, obviously, crowded public transport."
The Prime Minister added that there would no longer be any Government instruction that people should work from home where possible, and that no covid certificate would be required to enter any venue or event.
The third and fourth points reinforced the continuation of Test and Trace and tight border controls, while the fifth was a pledge by Mr Johnson that data-monitoring would continue.
Stressing that a final decision on the measures would be taken on 12 July, he outlined a five-point plan.
Mr Johnson said: "I want to stress from the outset that this pandemic is far from over. It certainly won't be over by the 19th.
"As we predicted in the roadmap in February, we're seeing cases rise fairly rapidly. There could be 50,000 cases detected per day by the 19th and, again as we predicted, we're seeing rising hospital admissions and we must reconcile ourselves, sadly, to more deaths from covid.
"In these circumstances we must take a careful and a balanced decision. There is only one reason why we can contemplate going ahead to step four in circumstances where we would normally be locking down further, and that is because of the continuing effectiveness of the vaccine rollout."
The first of the five points in the plan outlined by the Prime Minister for 19 July was the reduction of the vaccine interval between doses for people aged under 40 from 12 weeks to eight, so that everybody aged over 18 should have had both jabs by mid-September.
Turning to the second point, Mr Johnson said: "We will change the basic tools we have used to control human behaviour. We will move away from legal restrictions and allow people to make their own informed decisions about how to manage the virus.
"From step four we will remove all legal limits on the numbers meeting indoors and outdoors. We will allow all businesses to reopen, including nightclubs. We will lift the limit on named visitors to care homes and on numbers of people attending concerts, theatre and sports events.
"We will end the one metre-plus rule on social distancing and the legal obligation to wear a face covering, although guidance will suggest where you might choose to do so, especially where cases are rising and where you come into contact with people you don't normally meet in enclosed spaces such as, obviously, crowded public transport."
The Prime Minister added that there would no longer be any Government instruction that people should work from home where possible, and that no covid certificate would be required to enter any venue or event.
The third and fourth points reinforced the continuation of Test and Trace and tight border controls, while the fifth was a pledge by Mr Johnson that data-monitoring would continue.
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