COVID-19: Almost all coronavirus rules - including face masks and home-working - to be ditched on 19 July, PM says

Almost all COVID rules - including limits on the number of people who can meet together, legal requirements on wearing face masks, and social distancing in pubs and bars - will be ditched as part of the final step of the roadmap for lifting lockdown restrictions in England.

The government expects to push ahead with step four of its lockdown-lifting roadmap on 19 July, when Boris Johnson wants to move away from ministerial edicts for managing the coronavirus pandemic.

Instead, people in England will be encouraged to use their personal judgement on the risks of infection - with the prime minister wishing to see a new way of living with the virus.

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Image: Legal requirements on wearing masks and social distancing are set to be ditched

However, despite the imminent removal of vast swathes of COVID restrictions, Mr Johnson urged people not to be "demob happy" and to think it was "the end of COVID".

"It is very far from the end of dealing with this virus," the prime minister told a Downing Street news conference on Monday, as he suggested there could be as many as 50,000 coronavirus cases per day by 19 July.

Labour accused the government of being "reckless" by aiming to remove the majority of measures in two weeks' time, while Mr Johnson was criticised for scrapping legal requirements on face masks.

A final decision on whether to go ahead with the last phase of the roadmap will be taken in a week's time, following a review of the latest data and if the government's tests for removing restrictions are being met.

Should step four proceed on 19 July, it will see:

• No more limits on social contact to allow people to gather in groups of any size

• The removal of the "one metre-plus" rule in almost all settings, apart from specific places such as airports

• All remaining businesses, including nightclubs, able to re-open

• No capacity caps on large-scale events, such as sports matches, theatre shows or concerts

• No more legal requirement on wearing face masks in shops or on public transport

• The government will no longer require people to work from home

• No more limits on the number of people who are able to visit care home residents

The government has also chosen not to impose the use of domestic COVID "passports" for people to demonstrate their vaccination or testing status when attending pubs, bars and restaurants or other venues.

There will be further announcements this week on the ending of "bubbles" for pupils in schools and colleges, as well as on whether double-jabbed people will still have to self-isolate after contact with an infected person or on their return from an "amber list" country.

Mr Johnson said the government was "looking to move to a different regime for fully vaccinated contacts of those testing positive and also for children", while he said ministers would "work with the travel industry towards removing the need for fully vaccinated arrivals to isolate on return from an amber country".

And, as the prime minister spoke at the news conference, Health Secretary Sajid Javid told MPs: "I can confirm that on 19 July it is our plan to remove bubbles and to end the requirement for early year settings, schools and colleges to routinely carry out contact tracing."

He added the government intended to "exempt under-18s who are close contacts from the requirement to self-isolate".

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player PM 'reckless' to remove all restrictions - Starmer

However, under those rules being retained beyond 19 July, it will still be a legal requirement for someone to self-isolate if they test positive for COVID-19, the one-metre plus rule will continue in specific places such as airports to prevent passengers from different destinations from mixing, and infection control measures will remain in place in care homes.

Mr Johnson warned the pandemic was "far from over" and the country would have to "reconcile ourselves sadly to more deaths".

But he said we must "balance the risk" of the virus against the impact of restrictions on people's lives and livelihoods, as he highlighted the "continuing effectiveness" of the COVID vaccine rollout.

"We must be honest with ourselves that if we can't reopen our society in the next few weeks - when we will be helped by the arrival of summer, and by the school holidays - then we must ask ourselves 'when will we be able to return to normal?'," the prime minister added.

Last month, Mr Johnson delayed the final lifting of lockdown restrictions by four weeks following an increase in cases of the Delta variant of COVID-19.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 'Epidemic is rising and we should behave accordingly'

Downing Street said the delay had allowed the vaccine rollout to save thousands more lives by getting jabs to millions more people.

The vaccine rollout will now be accelerated further by reducing the interval between the two doses from 12 weeks to eight for under-40s.

This will mean that every adult should have had the chance to be double jabbed by mid-September, according to the prime minister.

In a five-point plan for living with COVID beyond 19 July, as unveiled by Mr Johnson, the government will:

• Encourage further take-up of vaccinations and continue plans for booster jabs

• Allow the public to make "informed decisions through guidance" rather than keep COVID laws in place

• Retain "proportionate" test, trace and isolate plans

• Continue border restrictions to reduce the risk of new variants entering the UK

• Retain contingency measures to respond to unexpected events

Image: There are calls for face masks to remain a legal requirement across all public transport

Despite ending the legal requirement for wearing masks under step four of his roadmap, Mr Johnson said he would continue to wear a mask in crowded places full of strangers.

"There's a difference between that... and circumstances where you might find yourselves sitting alone for hours late at night on a train with no one else in the compartment and there I think people should be entitled to exercise some discretion," he said.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer accused Mr Johnson of being "reckless" with his plan to remove almost all COVID rules, as he urged the government to keep the requirement for face masks on public transport.

"To throw off all protections at the same time when the infection rate is still going up is reckless," he said.

"We need a balanced approach, we need to keep key protections in place including masks, including ventilation and, crucially - something we've been asking for throughout the pandemic - proper payments to those that need to self-isolate."

Sir Keir claimed the prime minister was more interested in "party management" of Conservative MPs - a number of whom have been agitating for the end of restrictions - rather than the public interest.