Face masks look set to be scrapped in the summer as scientists believe that vaccines will be able to control covid.
Under the governments roadmap for easing out of lockdown all legal limits on social contact are set to be removed by June 21, with restrictions on large events like festivals also expected to ease.
Scientists advising the Government say there is nothing currently in the data to suggest that people will not be able to enjoy a relatively normal summer, but coronavirus cases may well rise as the autumn approaches.
Asked about mask-wearing in the coming months, one source told the PA news agency that vaccines are working so well, and there is such good vaccine uptake among members of the public, that things will return to much more like normal life over the summer months, with cases dropping very low, particularly in May.
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However, masks and possibly other measures may be needed next autumn and winter if cases surge, they said.
But the general view among scientific advisers is that the spike in cases in winter will be lower than in the past due to high levels of immunity and vaccination.
The source said that what happens will depend on people's behaviours as well as measures such as increased ventilation indoors, good hand hygiene and whether people isolate when they display symptoms - seen as the critical to controlling spread.
They said the UK needs to abandon its culture of going into work when feeling unwell, instead choosing to stay at home if they fall sick.
The source said there should be a relaxation of measures across all age groups soon, including for those who have had two vaccines, enabling them to meet up more freely.
On the issue of border controls to keep out variants of concern, the source said that even with extremely draconian border measures, all that happens is that there is a delay to importing cases.
But the delay is still seen as a valuable tool as it allows experts to work out how to deal with variants and get more information.
However the source said there are currently no variants that completely evade vaccine effectiveness, and people's immune responses to vaccines is probably enough to have quite a significant effect on most variants.
