Today’s lockdown easing is a “small step” towards freedom after “months of sacrifice and effort”, Boris Johnson has said.
The Prime Minister hailed the landmark easing of Covid-19 pandemic restrictions at a Downing Street briefing this afternoon.
Today is a major date in the Government’s road map out of lockdown, with six people - or two families - able to meet up outside and in private gardens.
However, the Prime Minister was reluctant to say the UK had definitely seen its last lockdown.
Responding to a question by the Evening Standard’s political reporter Sophia Sleigh, about whether he could guarantee that there would not be another lockdown, Mr Johnson said yes, but with “at least two very important provisos”.
“Yes, if everybody obviously continues to obey the guidance with sufficient caution and we continue to work together to keep the virus under control, get it down, in the way that we have”, he said.
“And, yes, if the vaccine rollout continues and the vaccines continue to be as effective as it looks as though they could be, or looks as though they are.”
The Prime Minister said he was “hopeful” about progress, adding: “I don’t see anything in the data right now that would cause us to deviate from the road map.
“We have got to remain humble in the face of nature and we have got to be prepared to do whatever it takes to protect the British public.”
It came after the Mr Johnson hailed what he said has been a "big day for many of us" with the first chance to see friends and family outdoors since the lockdown was imposed.
"It's only because of months of sacrifice and effort that we can take this small step towards freedom today and we must proceed with caution," he said.
"It's great to see that yesterday we recorded the lowest number of new infections for six months, deaths and hospital admissions across the UK are continuing to fall.
"That wave is still rising across the channel and it's inevitable, as we advance on this road map, that there will be more infections and unavoidably more hospitalisations, and sadly more deaths."
The Prime Minister said he was “thrilled” to be able to play tennis again - and urged people to take advantage of the new freedoms to take up more healthy pursuits.
His comments come as the UK recorded a further 23 deaths of people who had tested positive for Covid-19 in the last 28 days, and 4,654 new cases.
