Boris Johnson has made his announcements within the houses of parliament, so here is a quick summary of the announced proposed roadmap to ending lockdown.
8th March 2021
All Schools to Reopen
After school, outdoor activities to restart
The meeting of 1 person outside of the household in an outside setting is now allowed for non exercise reasons.
29th March 2021
The rule of 6 will return for outdoor gatherings.
Outdoor gatherings will also extend to two households.
Outdoor exercise such as tennis courts, basketball courts etc. will reopen
12th April 2021
Non essential retail to reopen
Indoor Leisure and gyms to reopen
Holiday lets to be available strictly to one household
Pubs and Restaurants can serve outdoor patrons, ordering when seated but there will be no requirement to order food with alcohol.
Libraries and other public centres to reopen
Hairdressers, beauticians etc can reopen.
17th May 2021
The rule of 6, and two houseshold rule now can be extended to indoors.
Pubs and Resturants will be allowed to seat patrons indoors
Theatres and Stadiums to open with capacity limits
21st June 2021
The removal of all legal limits including those on weddings, funerals and gatherings
Opening of nightclubs and larger venues
The lifting or increasing of capacity limits potentially based on a vaccine passport type system or rapid testing.
So is it time to book your summer holiday just yet?
We suggest holding fire just for the time being. The prime minster has set out very clearly that these measures should be irreversible and that should not lead to the need for another lockdown, as such the date that these restrictions are lifted may be delayed if the impact of the previous restrictions being lifted are seen to be larger than modelled or anticipated. The PMS new catchphrase being “Relying on Data not Dates”
A report specifically looking into the aviation industry is due to be published by the 12th April 2021 advising about the process required and potential restrictions for travel abroad.