The Prime Minister, Boris Johnson MP, announced the final step of England’s roadmap out of lockdown in England in two weeks’ time (19 July 2021), including the following:

• Face masks will no longer be legally required
• The 1m-plus social distancing rule will end
• All legal restrictions on numbers meeting indoors and outdoors will be removed
• All businesses, including nightclubs, can reopen
• Table service rules at bars and restaurants and venue check-in requirements will be scrapped
• The limit on the number of named visitors to care homes will be lifted
• Capacity limits for concerts, theatres, and sports events will also be removed
• Guidance instructing people to work from home where possible will be lifted
• Council powers to enforce rules will expire

So far, 64,916 Lincoln residents have had one vaccination jab and of these 44,549 have had two (5 July 2021).

Whilst the Government has said it will confirm the measures on 12 July, Lincoln’s MP, Karl McCartney, has said there can be no more delays.

Karl has been holding the Government to account over delays in ending lockdown restrictions, said: “As a Country, we have been doing very well in managing the disease -- the Government and the NHS have done a brilliant job of rolling out the vaccine, vulnerable groups have all been vaccinated, most of them twice.

“Giving this progress and the welcome announcements today, there can be no further delays in lifting the restrictions, so that life in Lincoln can return to something akin to normal. The disruption to pupils, students, businesses, workers, and everyone else who has been affected, including those who have had to rearrange weddings or missed funerals of loved ones, must never happen again.

The reality is we need to learn to live with the virus, which the scientists tell us will be with us forever, just like the flu. There can be no turning back now and Lincoln must be allowed to move apace again as the best place in the UK to shop, visit, work, and learn.”