Friends and family will be allowed to hug each other from Monday, after Boris Johnson confirmed huge changes to lockdown rules.
Up to 30 people will be allowed to meet up outdoors in England - and up to six or two households can meet indoors.
And people will be allowed to make their own decisions about whether to follow social distancing guidance while meeting with friends and family.
That means they'll be free to assess for themselves whether the risk of hugging, kissing or shaking hands is worth it, subject to the remaining rules on households mixing.
But the Prime Minister warned this does not mean people should "suddenly throw caution to the winds."
He said: "In fact, more than a year into this pandemic we all know close contact such as hugging is a direct way of transmitting this disease.
“So I urge you to think about the vulnerability of your loved ones, whether they’ve had a vaccine, one or two doses, or whether there’s been time for that vaccine to take effect.
“Remember outdoors is always safer than indoors, and if you’re meeting indoors, remember to open a window and let in the fresh air.
“Keep getting tested regularly even if you don’t have symptoms so you don’t spread the virus without knowing it.”
Meanwhile, pubs, restaurants and cafes will be allowed to serve customers indoors for the first time this year.
Cinemas, theatres sports arenas and event venues will be allowed to open their doors.
And people will be allowed to travel overseas again, as long as they follow the rules set out in the Government’s ‘traffic lights’ system.
The Prime Minister confirmed England would proceed into step three of the Covid-19 roadmap at a Downing Street press conference, hours after the UK’s top health chiefs confirmed the Covid alert level was to reduce from level 4 to level 3.
Before taking each step on the roadmap, the government has to be satisfied that the data shows its four tests have been met - which include the successful vaccine rollout, a reduction in cases, hospitalisations and deaths, infection rates not posing a threat to the NHS and variants not fundamentally changing the risk level.
From May 17, organised adult sport and exercise classes will be allowed indoors, and saunas and steam rooms can reopen.
Domestic overnight stays with friends and family will be allowed, as will staying in a venue with people from a different household.
Hotels, hostels and B&Bs will reopen - previously only self-contained venues with your own household were allowed.
And the 30-mourner limit at funerals will be axed.
Instead funerals can have any number of mourners as long as it is within the venue’s Covid-safe capacity with social distancing.
And support groups and parent and child groups will be allowed to take place with up to 30 adults - plus any number of children under five.
But Number 10 has no plans to give any exemption to current rules before May 17 for the upcoming festival of Eid.
Meanwhile, rules requiring children to wear face coverings in schools will be scrapped from Monday.
And University students will be allowed to return to face-to-face learning - subject to twice-weekly Covid-19 testing.
It comes after latest figures show a third of UK adults are now fully vaccinated against Covid-19, with a total of 17,669,379 people having received both jabs - the equivalent of 33.5% of all people aged 18 and over.
Overall more than 53 million vaccine doses have been administered in the UK.
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