Boris Johnson unveiled a roadmap for easing lockdown restrictions across England on 22 February.
The measures are designed to gradually lift the stay at home order without jeopardising the downturn in coronavirus cases.
As well as unveiling news about schools and changes to socialising with other households, Mr Johnson also made surprising announcements about the nightlife industry.
Mr Johnson had already given a nod to the industry in a speech earlier in February, when he said that rapid turnaround lateral flow tests could be used to test those in the queue for clubs and venues for Covid-19.
Read more: Lockdown roadmap: What is reopening and when?
"That, in combination with vaccination, will probably be the route forward," he told a Downing Street news conference. He also ruled out the possibility of vaccine passports as a way of managing crowds at entertainment venues.
But now he has offered yet more concrete guidance on when people should expect to be able to reopen the doors of nightclubs.
What are the rules on nightlife?
Nightclubs have been unable to operate since the first coronavirus lockdown in March 2020, unlike pubs and restaurants which have reopened at certain times last year.
But now Mr Johnson has said that on 21 June, the government hopes to reopen nightclubs and lift restrictions on certain events and performances.
But with the caveat that this is the earliest such date that this will happen.
And this will be the last stage in a staggered approach to easing lockdown, which begins with allowing greater mixing outside of households from 8 March with people permitted to see one other person.
This will then increase to the now much-familiar rule-of-six mixing from the end of March.
Will this definitely happen?
For nightclub reopening, as with all of the roadmap, Mr Johnson has repeatedly said that all easing measures are based on the data showing diminishing case numbers and hospitalisations.
He said that the government will be led by “data, not dates”. This time he has specifically included four tests, which must be met in order to roll out the lockdown easing.
- The vaccine deployment programme continues successfully
- Evidence shows vaccines are sufficiently effective in reducing hospitalisations and deaths in those vaccinated
- Infection rates do not risk a surge in hospitalisations which would put unsustainable pressure on the NHS
- The assessment of the risks is not fundamentally changed by new variants of the virus
