Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday urged people to move to the next stage of considerable easing of lockdown restrictions that allows greater indoor interactions with a “heavy dose of caution”, as the UK continues to monitor rapidly rising cases of the B1.617.2 variant of Covid-19 first identified in India.

In what is step three of a four-step roadmap set by Johnson for easing the legally-binding lockdown restrictions, the hospitality sector including pubs, restaurants and cinemas and most businesses can resume close to normal service in England, Wales and most of Scotland.