Indoor meals, museums and more: North East moves to next stage of lockdown easing
Video report by Tom Barton
There are greater freedoms for people across the North East and across the majority of the UK as coronavirus lockdown are eased, but the population is being warned to proceed with caution by the Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
From Monday people in England, Wales and parts of Scotland can have physical contact with those from other households and go on holiday, while pubs and restaurants are allowed to reopen inside.
Hugging
For Irene and Alf Everett, in Houghton-le-Spring - today is a long-awaited chance to embrace their grandson Jake Adams.
The 20-year-old has been shielding since March last year, after being diagnosed with brain cancer.
Irene says of all the restrictions to be eased today, this is the one she's been most looking forward to...
Indoor hospitality
The easing of restrictions means customers are able to go indoors to eat and drink for the first time since December.In Newcastle at lunchtime on Monday, restaurants and pubs made the most of the opportunity to open their doors once more.
Matt Stevenson is the manager of Leila Lilly's in Newcastle.
Concern about Indian Covid variant
The easing of restrictions comes amid growing concern about the Indian variant of Covid, which has been identified in the North East.
The Prime Minister said the variant "poses a serious threat" to ending restrictions in England on June 21.
Newcastle's Director of Public Health, Professor Eugene Milne, told ITV News Tyne Tees that the variant should be treated as a "wake up call"...
The easing of restrictions comes after various stipulations were met as part of the roadmap out of lockdown, including the number of vaccinations carried out.
In a statement, Mr Johnson said: "Together we have reached another milestone in our roadmap out of lockdown, but we must take this next step with a heavy dose of caution.
"We are keeping the spread of the variant first identified in India under close observation and taking swift action where infection rates are rising."
He said the "current data does not indicate unsustainable pressure on the NHS", and that second vaccine doses are being accelerated to give the greatest protection to the most vulnerable.
The Business Secretary said on Monday morning that he could not "give a cast-iron guarantee we will reopen on the 21st June".
However, Kwasi Kwarteng added "all the data we've seen suggests we can keep the date as expressed in the roadmap."
On Sunday it was confirmed that 20 million people had now received both doses of the vaccine.
People can have physical contact with those not in their household for the first time since restrictions were first put in place last year.
Holidaymakers started travelling abroad early on Monday to places on the green list.
Some drinkers attended the pub at midnight, with Powerhouse in Newcastle among the first in the country to welcome customers for indoor drinking. The venue opened seconds after midnight on Monday morning.
However, people have been warned not to over indulge.
Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng told LBC: “What the Prime Minister has said very clearly is, yes, we are opening partially ahead of June 21 but we’ve got to behave sensibly, we’ve got to exercise some caution because if people get too carried away, we could jeopardise the ability to reopen on June 21.”
Tourism
Of course, the easing of lockdown has also allowed a range of other attractions to reopen, and brought some much needed hope to the tourism sector too.
Our correspondent Gregg Easteal was in North Yorkshire on Monday seeing how things got back on track there...