A Gateshead Council boss has urged people to be cautious as lockdown restrictions ease.
Restaurants, bars and non-essential shops will be able to reopen from Monday April 12 as England advances to the next stage of Boris Johnson's roadmap out of lockdown.
Martin Gannon, leader of Gateshead Council, said that low coronavirus figures "merit" lifting lockdown.
He said: "The numbers and the data are really good. In Gateshead we have 30 cases per 100,000 over the last seven days which is really good when you think we were up to 200 cases per 100,000.
"Three people [with coronavirus] are in the QE [Queen Elizabeth Hospital] and we haven't had anyone in ICU for weeks now.
"The general position we are in in terms of infection, which is down to how people have behaved in lockdown, merits easing in restrictions."
But Coun Gannon warned the virus hasn't gone away and urged people to carry on following the rules.
He continued: "We have been here before, we have come out of lockdown before, the virus is still there, people still need to follow the rules and be cautious.
"We welcome the easing of restrictions but we want people to be cautious, avoid unnecessary mixing and follow the rules.
"Impressive isn't the word for it [the UK vaccination rollout]. I was reading that transmission rates are reducing because of the impact of the vaccine, that makes me feel more optimistic.
"Europe is still having a problem and I have read about what is happening in Brazil with the P1 variant.
"The success that the UK has had in rolling out the vaccine programme puts us in a very strong place."
Coun Gannon said that until the vaccine is rolled out across the globe, Covid-19 would continue to be a problem.
He added: "This isn't over until it is over, until every single country in the world no matter how poor or desperate has the vaccine to the same level as the UK.
"I'm lost for words to describe what's going in France, Germany and the rest of the continent.
"We can't cut ourselves off from the continent. We're heavily reliant on our ports for food and essential supplies.
"We're not safe until Europe and the rest of the world is safe as well."
