A month has now passed since England's Freedom Day, which saw Covid restrictions fully lifted for the first time in 16 months.
On the stroke of midnight nightclubs threw their doors open, while in the ensuing weeks dozens of music festivals have gone ahead and full-capacity crowds returned to football matches.
In the build-up to the rule change, experts issued dire predictions about infections swelling - with Health Secretary Sajid Javid even suggesting they could reach 100,000 a day.
But to the surprise of scientists this has not happened, with the UK currently recording 15 per cent fewer cases than it was on Freedom Day.
Nevertheless, the number of daily infections remains high, with authorities clear that the crisis is far from over.
Here we look at what has changed since July 19, the day England's Covid restrictions came to an end.
Infections
There is some good news on this front, with the daily and weekly figures lower than they were a month ago.
Yesterday the Department of Health confirmed 33,904 new cases, bringing the seven day total to 211,238.
On Freedom Day, there were 39,950 cases - meaning the daily total has dropped by 15 per cent despite the easing of restrictions.
In the week leading up to July 19, there were 322,170 confirmed positive tests - meaning a fall of 34 per cent.
People have been warned to take the figures with a pinch of salt, however.
Schools breaking up meant young people would be testing left, and some suggested that many may be less willing to do Covid tests for fear of ruining plans.
Deaths
Sadly the number of people dying from Covid-19 is higher than it was a month ago.
Earlier this week The Mirror reported that the number of weekly deaths in England and Wales was five times higher than it was a month earlier.
In the week to August 6, 527 death certificates referenced the virus - accounting for more than one in 20 deaths from all causes.
This is up from 109 in the week to July 4, data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows.
In its daily update on Freedom Day, the Department of Health confirmed 19 deaths. This had risen to 111 by yesterday, a 484 per cent rise.
In the past week there have been 655 Covid fatalities, compared to 296 this time last month.
Hospitalisations
Yesterday the daily update said 733 people had been admitted to hospital with Covid-19 on Saturday - the latest available figure.
In the previous seven days the total admissions was 5,623.
This is up from a month ago, when the seven-day total was 4,317.
Latest figures show 6,321 people were in hospital with Covid at the weekend, with 925 in ventilation beds.
This has also risen from 4,094 and 573 respectively from the update provided by the government on Freedom Day.
Hotspots
On Freedom Day, Redcar and Cleveland, Middlesbrough and South Tyneside had the highest Covid infection rates in England.
But none of these are in the top 10 worst hotspots now, according to Public Health England data, with Hull now having the highest case rate.
According to figures released on July 19, these were the 10 worst hotspots in England:
- Redcar and Cleveland - 1421.8 cases per 100,000 people
- Middlesbrough - 1281.0 cases per 100,000 people
- South Tyneside - 1207.5 cases per 100,000 people
- Sunderland - 1100.8 cases per 100,000 people
- Hartlepool - 1080.5 cases per 100,000 people
- Stockton-on-Tees - 1071.2 cases per 100,000 people
- North East Lincolnshire - 1008.4 cases per 100,000 people
- Gateshead - 957.2 cases per 100,000 people
- Copeland - 931.3 cases per 100,000 people
- Darlington - 929.7 cases per 100,000 people
This has changed a lot, and current worst hotspot Hull would not have got into the top 10 last month with a rate of 628.7 per 100,000 people.
These are now these are the worst-affected areas of the country:
- Hull - 628.7 cases per 100,000 people
- Sedgemoor - 593.0 cases per 100,000 people
- Mansfield - 542.3 cases per 100,000 people
- Torbay - 535.2 cases per 100,000 people
- Peterborough - 515.7 cases per 100,000 people
- Exeter - 478.5 cases per 100,000 people
- Ashfield - 455.1 cases per 100,000 people
- Brighton and Hove - 448.3 cases per 100,000 people
- North East Lincolnshire - 441.8 cases per 100,000 people
- Blaby - 440.4 cases per 100,000 people
Vaccines
On Freedom Day, the number of fully vaccinated adults in the UK was 36,099,727.
More than 4.5 million have since had their second dose, meaning 77.5 per cent of adults - almost 41 million - are now fully vaccinated.
More than 93 per cent of adults in England, Wales and Scotland are believed to have Covid antibodies, figures released this morning show.
In Northern Ireland the figure is slightly lower, at 89.1 per cent, according to the Office for National Statistics.
It means across the UK, around nine in 10 adults would have tested positive for Covid antibodies, either due to vaccination or previous infection.
In England the figure is 94.2 per cent, in Scotland it is 93.5 per cent and in Wales it is 93.2 per cent.
An ONS bulletin released this morning explains: "Having antibodies can help to prevent individuals from getting the same infection again, or if they do get infected, they are less likely to have severe symptoms.
"Once infected or vaccinated, antibodies remain in the blood at low levels and can decline over time."
Does this mean we're in a better position now?
Professor Peter Openshaw said high case numbers and deaths are "very worrying" and warned that "we just don't really know what's going to happen" as winter approaches.
A further 111 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of Wednesday, the Government said, while there were a further 33,904 lab-confirmed cases in the UK.
Asked about the figures, Prof Openshaw told Times Radio: "I think it's very worrying. This is a very large number. If you think, 34,000 people, that's a lot of people testing positive, and to be seeing over 100 deaths a day at this stage, you know before schools have gone back, while the weather is still relatively good, we're not back into winter yet.
"I think we're all really anxious about what's going to happen once we return to normality."
He added: "We're going into the winter with really very high levels of infection out there in the community and we just don't really know what's going to happen."
