Boris Johnson has said he's "hopeful" people may be enjoying a pub-poured pint by April on a visit to Newcastle.
Visiting Tyneside on Saturday, the Prime Minister said rapid, lab-accurate testing technology developed in the city could offer a "way forward" for our struggling nighttime economy.
But he refused to reveal any concrete details of the timeline for reopening, due to be unveiled on February 22.
Asked by reporters if people would be able to drink a pint in a pub garden come Easter, when he has previously said life would be "close to normal", the PM said: "I read that in the papers this morning, I'm hopeful, but it all depends on our ability to keep the thing under control. We will be setting out as much as we can on the 22nd."
Reopening dates will be crucial information for thousands of struggling business owners and employees in the North East, where our multi-million pound nighttime economy has been hit particularly hard by the pandemic, with some venues at risk of being unable to reopen. Through our Save Our Scene campaign, ChronicleLive has been campaigning for the financial support and clear roadmap to reopening this vital industry needs.
Asked what lessons had been learnt from the last reopening, and what reassurance he could give that pubs and clubs wouldn't be plunged back into closure after finally getting to reopen, Mr Johnson said: "We want to have a roadmap, a way forward, that is realistic and we don't want to be doing a series of stop-starts or reverse ferrets.
"We want to be making sure that what we do is, insofar as we are able, to set out a timetable of the earliest dates by which we will do XYZ: non-essential retail, hospitality, nighclubs and so on. We will want to make those realistic targets.
"It is very difficult because you're dealing with nature, you're dealing with a disease, and new variants, we've seen the effects that those can have, but we will be as reasonable as we possibly can.
"I think that there is a very very good chance that we will be able to get everything going again in due course, including nightclubs, because I think we're starting to see a change in the medical environment.
"It's not just vaccines now, it's the therapeutics, it's the medicines, plus it's the thing that's sitting on this desk in front of us, this test which we've all had. Everybody here is negative...
"This can do a test in half an hour, this QuantuMDx machine, and it's getting faster and faster. So if you imagine: things like nightclubs, theatres, gatherings where people are very close together, it was very difficult during the last reopenings. I think testing and vaccinations will provide a way forward.
"So I'm confident, I'm optimistic, but we just need to set a realistic timetable."
Mr Johnson was speaking on a visit to QuantuMDx Group Limited, a Quayside-based diagnostics company which has developed a "revolutionary" 30 minute PCR coronavirus tests, designed to deliver the accuracy of a lab test within the timescale of the less-accurate lateral flow tests.
Jonathan O’Halloran, chief executive of QuantuMDx, added: "Having the ability to run a rapid diagnostic swab test as the patient waits will provide the diagnostic silver bullet for hospital triage, A&E, ICU, business continuity, track and trace, and many more settings.
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“The deployment...at the point of care will provide another important tool in the battle against the coronavirus pandemic and will ensure an installed base of best-in-class point of care molecular diagnostics across healthcare systems worldwide.
"We will use this installed base to launch more tests to ensure that an investment in Q-POC is a legacy investment that will provide rapid, high quality testing to patients long after the pandemic is over.”
