Boris Johnson has announced an end to compulsory social distancing and mask wearing as he lays out the final stages of the roadmap out of Covid-19 restrictions in England.
The PM is leading a Downing Street press conference on Monday where he confirmed that all legal coronavirus restrictions including mask-wearing, social distancing and nightclub closures will end at Step 4 of the Government’s plan to ease England’s lockdown, which is expected to be on July 19.
Meanwhile, Newcastle has become the area of England with the highest rate of new cases of Covid-19, with the North East overtaking the North West as the nation's main coronavirus hotspot.
In the US, President Joe Biden has celebrated the nation's 245th birthday by opening the doors of the White House and calling on Americans to do their part to end the Covid-19 pandemic once and for all.
