THE removal of legal requirements for social distancing and the wearing of face coverings was announced for England from July 19, as part of Boris Johnson’s much-heralded march towards ‘freedom day’.

All businesses, including nightclubs, will be able to reopen, and there will be no limits on indoor and outdoor gatherings.

People are no longer advised by the UK government to work from home, and isolation is to be replaced by daily testing.

The measures are still be confirmed after a review of data on July 12, but the prime minister was bullish in his assertion that restrictions will end.

This is in stark contrast to the briefing this morning from the Welsh government, with health minister Eluned Morgan saying that the path out of lockdown in Wales will be determined by "data, not dates"

The removal of restrictions in England comes at a time when the number of Covid-19 cases in the UK is rising, with Mr Johnson admitting that they could reach 50,000 per day by July 19.

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The increase is mainly amongst young people, but is “spreading up the age groups”.

However, chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance (below) said the amount of people in hospital with Covid-19 has not increased as sharply as infection rates, especially when compared to earlier this year and last year.

Mr Johnson said if a variant is found that does not respond to vaccines, Westminster will take “whatever steps we need to do to protect the public”.

Asked if it is wise to abandon all restrictions with cases rising due to the highly-transmittable Delta variant, Mr Johnson reiterated his belief that the vaccine programme will help to protect most people.

The government says 86 per cent of all British adults have had the first part of the vaccine.

Asked if it would be better to lift restrictions once the vaccine roll-out had been completed, England’s chief medical officer Chris Whitty said: “At a certain point you move to the situation where instead of actually averting hospitalisations and deaths, you move over to just delaying them.

“So, you’re not actually changing the number of people who will go to hospital or die”.

Ministers are said to have made the decision based on the fact the NHS will be under greater pressure in winter as opposed to summer.

The prime minister said a third wave was always expected and there will be “sadly more hospitalisations and more deaths”.