Boris Johnson announces reopening of pubs, restaurants, hotels and hairdressers

Hotels, restaurants, pubs, cinemas and hairdressers can reopen from July 4 providing they are "Covid-secure" and theatres and concert halls can open but cannot stage live performances.

But nightclubs, indoor gyms and beauty salons must remain closed "for now", Mr Johnson said.

The 2m rule on social distancing will be relaxed to "1m plus" from July 4, with people advised to take other precautions such as wearing face coverings, the PM added.

He told MPs: "The number of new infections is now declining by between 2% and 4% every day.

"Four weeks ago an average of one in 400 people in the community in England had Covid-19, in the first half of June this figure was one in 1,700.

"We created a human shield around the NHS and in turn our doctors and nurses have protected us, and together we have saved our hospitals from being overwhelmed."

He added that the commonsense and perseverance of Britons has "more than justified our faith" in them, as he delivered a Covid-19 statement to the Commons.

He said: "Since I set out our plan on May 11, we have been clear that our cautious relaxation of the guidance is entirely conditional on our continued defeat of the virus.

"In the first half of May, nearly 69,000 people tested positive for Covid-19 across the UK. By the first half of June that total had fallen by nearly 70% to just under 22,000."

The Prime Minister said the two-metre rule will be reduced to "one metre-plus" from July 4.

He told the Commons: "Given the significant fall in the prevalence of the virus we can change the two-metre social distancing rule from July 4."

He added: "Where it is possible to keep two metres apart, people should.

"But where it is not, we will advise people to keep a social distance of one metre-plus, meaning they should remain one metre apart while taking mitigations to reduce the risk of transmission."

Boris Johnson said the fewer social contacts people have, the safer they will be.

He told the Commons: "I'm acutely conscious that people will ask legitimate questions about why certain activities are allowed and others are not.

"And I must ask the House to understand that the virus has no interest in these debates, its only interest, its only ambition is to exploit any opportunities to recapture ground that we might carelessly vacate and to reinfect our communities.

"And so there is only one certainty - the fewer social contacts you have, the safer you will be."

More to follow...