Shoppers rush back as High Streets and pubs reopen

As we move into the evening on the first night that pubs have been open in England for months, police say they have extra patrols to make sure everyone sticks to coronavirus restrictions.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Jane Connors, the Met’s lead for Covid-19 response, says:“The Met is ready to welcome back people to the streets of London. We will be stepping up our patrols to busy high footfall areas, to look out for everyone’s safety and to disrupt any criminal activity.

She says the overwhelming majority of people will act responsibly but "where we need to take action against those who dangerously flout the rules we will do".

“Businesses have been hit hard by this pandemic but it is important everyone plays their part in driving down the infection rate further. "Our joint patrols with councils will continue and if we see unnecessary risks being taken, we will engage, explain the regulations and if needed take action.”

Queues formed outside shops across England on the first day they opened their doors in more than three months.

And Greater Manchester Police tweeted this tongue-in-cheek reminder to stick to social distancing rules.

As many return to their local pub for the first time in months, one landlord says he's had 5,000 bookings for his outdoor seating area.

Scott Westlake, who runs the Myrtle Tavern in Leeds, says: "If the weather's good, I think most people are optimistic and excited.

"Atmosphere, ambience, seeing your mates, I think they (customers) are looking forward to that more than anything."

People in the north west of England are making the most of the easing of lockdown restrictions.

In Chester, one woman told the BBC being able to socialise "lifts everyone's spirits".

"People are fed up with lockdown and keen to get back to normal," she says.

Some shops in England and Wales will be keeping their doors open later than usual tonight, to allow for more people to visit safely.

Rules introduced by the government for the easing of lockdown measures let them open until 22:00 six days a week. They can also open from 07:00.

The idea is that businesses can start to recover and customers have more time to shop and can avoid peak times.

Those staying open late tonight include shopping centres such as Westfield in Stratford, London, and Sheffield's Meadowhall complex. Oxford Street store Selfridges is also open late as are chain stores like Primark.

And pubs and restaurants offering outdoor seating no longer have a 22:00 curfew, meaning customers can stay for longer - no doubt there will be a few sore heads come Tuesday morning.

PA MediaCopyright: PA Media

UK High Street footfall was down 24.2% today against a comparable day in April 2019 before the coronavirus pandemic, latest figures show.

The data is from the retail consultancy Springboard up to 17:00 BST after non-essential shops reopened in England and Wales.

Stores remain shut in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The data showed visits to retail parks were up 1.7%, while shopping centres were down 16.7%.

For all shopping destinations in the UK footfall was down 16.2%.And there was regional variation, with Central London down 55%, coastal towns down 16% and market towns down 3.5%.

The South East and South West of England saw declines of 4.8% and 7.8% respectively. While the East Midlands saw an 8% decline.

Here's our report from High Streets around England and Wales as shops opened for the first time in more than three months.

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

Thanks for joining us today, on the day lockdown restrictions have eased further in England and Wales. Here are some of the main headlines of the day.

• Pubs and restaurants have opened for the first time in months in England - albeit with only outdoor seating allowed. The cold weather, with some areas seeing snow, didn't stop customers returning to venues for their first pint or al-fresco lunch
• Shops deemed non-essential have also opened their doors in England and Wales with queues forming for some stores
• Hairdressers, barbers and beauticians have been able to treat customers for the first time since 6 January. Prime Minister Boris Johnson was among those taking the opportunity to get a much-needed trim
• Gyms and indoor pools are now open again in England, as are libraries and zoos
• All school and college students returned to face-to-face teaching in Wales
• Driving lessons can restart in Wales too. Travel between England and Wales can also resume
• Northern Ireland's stay-at-home order has been lifted after being in place for more than three months
• People in NI now have to "stay local" and continue to work from home if possible. Ten people from two households can meet in private gardens and click-and-collect can resume for non-essential shops
• All 350,000 pupils in NI returned to school after the Easter break
• In Scotland, pupils at schools in six council areas went back to school but not everyone has returned because differing term times mean some schools are still closed for the Easter holidays

GoogleCopyright: Google

A holiday home that hosted stays during lockdown has been forced to close and its owner and guests have been fined.

Castle House in Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire, has flouted Covid-19 laws by staying open since the start of January, police say.

Owner Scott Richardson was fined £7,000 and 62 visitors also were given fixed penalty notices.

Southern Derbyshire Magistrates' Court ordered Mr Richardson to close the let until 20 June.

Insp Dave Parker, from Derbyshire Police, says: "The nearly 100 complaints received by the force over a relatively short period of time shows just how disruptive, as well as dangerous, this holiday let has been."

Read more on this story here and the rules on holidays in the UK are here.

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

We've been answering your questions as lockdown eases in England and Wales.

Now that outdoor hospitality has reopened, Michael from Chichester in West Sussex wanted to know: "Can Covid-19 be transmitted through someone's exhaled cigarette smoke/vaping?"

It is possible to become infected by breathing in somebody else’s second-hand smoke or exhaled vapour - both of which can transport coronavirus particles on microscopic droplets of water vapour exhaled from the lungs.

In fact, the risk could even be heightened – with some scientists believing the virus might travel considerably further this way than when exhaled in normal breath.

However, a study found that the increased risk of virus transmission for the majority of vapers was much less than the increased risk from talking or coughing.

Government guidance for smokers says it's difficult to gauge the risk to individuals - and, in the absence of specific evidence, recommends that vapers err on the side of caution and avoid breathing out clouds of vapour in the presence of others.

Read the answers to more questions and submit your own.

Qari AsimCopyright: Qari Asim

One of Britain's leading imams has urged Muslim households to resist the urge to mix as the month of Ramadan begins and insists that getting a vaccine would not break the fast.

Qari Asim is senior imam of the Makkah Masjid, in Leeds, and chairman of Mosques & Imams National Advisory Board (Minab).

He says: "The message from Muslim religious leadership is that one should not miss the opportunity to take the vaccine when they are invited to do so."

Imam Asim told the PA news agency "the tide has turned" for vaccine hesitancy.

He said: "More and more people from black and Asian ethnic minorities, including Muslims, are now taking up the vaccine.

"The credit goes to the community champions, religious leadership, and NHS workers."

Read more on Ramadan and vaccines here.

The number of patients with Covid-19 in intensive care units in France has increased by 78 to a new 2021 record of 5,916.

The French health ministry also reported 385 new coronavirus deaths in hospitals. There had been 176 on Sunday.

France has recorded 8,536 new cases, taking the total to 5,067,216.

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

Confusion and complacency in addressing Covid-19 means it is "a long way" from over, says the head of the World Health Organization.

WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also said on Monday, in comments reported by Reuters news agency, that the situation can be brought under control in months if proven public health measures are adopted.

"We too want to see societies and economies reopening, and travel and trade resuming," Tedros says. "But right now, intensive care units in many countries are overflowing and people are dying – and it's totally avoidable.

"The Covid-19 pandemic is a long way from over. But we have many reasons for optimism. The decline in cases and deaths during the first two months of the year shows that this virus and its variants can be stopped."

He adds transmission is being driven by "confusion, complacency and inconsistency in public health measures".

In some countries, restaurants and nightclubs are full, with few people taking precautions, he says.

"Some people appear to be taking the approach that if they're relatively young, it doesn't matter if they get Covid-19," Tedros says.

Maria van Kerkhove, WHO team leader on Covid-19, adds it is a "critical point in the pandemic", with the trajectory "growing for the seventh week in a row".

BBCCopyright: BBC

Newquay Zoo is opening its doors for the first time in five months.

The keepers have been wearing different coloured jackets around the zoo to get the animals used to seeing lots of different people again.

Throughout lockdown, they’ve had to take care of the animals and staff, with no money coming in at the gates. They can’t wait to get people through the doors.

Part of a group of three zoos, its sister site in Torquay closed down last year, and Newquay came close to it too.

BBCCopyright: BBC

"It’s a hugely important day for us," says Dave Folland, the zoo’s operations manager.

"All the way through, we’ve had people in, we’ve had the animals to look after, and we’ve had no income to do that, so having our guests back in today and having them here enjoying the zoo, as well as bringing in an income so that we can move forward again as a business, is fantastic."

BBCCopyright: BBC

PA MediaCopyright: PA Media

The prime minister has wasted no time in getting his sometimes unruly hair under control as hairdressers reopen in England.

Boris Johnson is famous for his shock of blond hair but the wind played havoc with his overgrown locks on a trip to Truro last week.

But, as he emerged from Downing Street earlier his hair looked noticeably shorter.

Downing Street confirmed the prime minister had his hair trimmed this morning before joining MPs in Parliament to pay tribute to the Duke of Edinburgh.

Johnson had previously suggested he would prioritise a visit to the pub over a trip to the hairdressers but he postponed his plans for a pint in the wake of Prince Philip's death on Friday.

PA MediaCopyright: PA Media

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

More than 167 million Covid-19 vaccine doses have now been delivered in China, making it the country with the second largest number of vaccinations in the world - behind the US on 187 million.

China's total would equate to about 12% of its population but last week the official People’s Daily signalled that the majority of vaccine recipients had also received second doses, and that statistically, the percentage of the population fully vaccinated was still in the single digits.

China says it needs 70-80% of its population vaccinated in order to achieve herd immunity and has ambitious plans to vaccinate 40% of the population by the end of June.

But it is struggling to see uptake. On average, some three to four million vaccine doses are being administered per day, even though national newspaper Global Times says China has capability to administer 10 million shots daily.

This is partly due to China being slow to include the elderly in its vaccination programme. A significant proportion of China’s population are over 60, owing to decades of birth controls under the now-abolished one-child policy.

Over-60s have only just begun receiving vaccines, and there is still caution over widespread rollout due to there being insufficient data on how this demographic will respond in clinical trials.

But there are also more general, human nature concerns about vaccine safety. Last week, official broadcaster CCTV tried to dispel fears about getting vaccinated, noting there were concerns among the public over adverse reactions and the safety and efficacy of China’s vaccines.

It also noted there was a general resistance to getting vaccinated due to China having its Covid-19 situation largely under control and many not feeling it was "necessary".

BBCCopyright: BBC

The latest coronavirus statistics have been published and they show a further 3,568 positive cases recorded in the UK.

There have also been another 13 deaths of people who had tested positive for Covid in the previous 28 days.

There have been another 69,223 first doses of coronavirus vaccine given and 189,665 further second doses.

BBCCopyright: BBC

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

Publicans have welcomed being able to reopen under today's stage of lockdown easing but are warning the industry is on its knees.

Pubs in England can serve outdoors but need to fully open without restrictions as soon as possible, they say.

"No pub is expecting to profit from reopening outdoors, and many will make a loss," says Emma McClarkin, chief executive of the British Beer & Pub Association.

Some 2,500 pubs are estimated to have closed for good in 2020.

"Pubs are the heart of our communities and we've all missed them. If they are to survive the long-term it's imperative they fully recover," says McClarkin.

Pubs are expecting to sell about 15 million pints in the first week of reopening - about a quarter of what they would normally sell in an April week. Just two out of five pubs are reopening on Monday, the association says.

• Read more on this story

PA MediaCopyright: PA Media

Wales has taken another step out of lockdown, with travel restrictions further relaxed from today.

But what does this mean? Well, one main change is that the border between England and Wales has reopened, with people allowed to travel in either direction.

The rules actually state you are allowed to leave Wales to travel to "other parts of the UK and the Common Travel Area" (which covers the UK, Ireland, Isle of Man, and the Channel Islands).

But currently only essential travel is allowed into Scotland and Northern Ireland - so you can only go to those countries if you have a valid reason such as work, education or childcare.

Read more here.