‘Lockdown ended’: Boris urges caution as all COVID curbs lifted in England

The restrictions were lifted at midnight (23:00 GMT) on Sunday as laws mandating face masks and working from home were scrapped.

However, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has urged the public to remain cautious as the lifting of the rules means nightclubs to be able to reopen for the first time since the UK first went into lockdown in March 2020.

Other indoor venues such as theatres and cinemas will also be able to operate at full capacity.

Boris Johnson stated, "We've got to do it cautiously, we've got to remember that this virus is sadly still out there, cases are rising, we can see the extreme contagiousness of the Delta variant".

He further added, "But we have this immense consolation and satisfaction that the vaccine programme has very severely weakened the link between infection and hospitalisation, and between infection and serious illness and death".

Johnson himself remains in isolation after the British Health Minister contracted the virus.

Masks are no longer mandatory and there are no limits on the number of people allowed to meet or attend events.

Following new orders, people working from home are being encouraged to gradually return to the workplace.

Latest data show around 50,000 cases a day have been recorded recently. But deaths and hospitalisations are at a much lower level than earlier in the pandemic, helped by the country's swift vaccination roll-out.

Almost 70% of the population have received two vaccine doses.

The UK's other three nations, where public health measures are decided by the devolved administrations, are moving at a slightly slower pace to remove restrictions than England.

Nearly 129,000 people have died from COVID-19 in the United Kingdom, the seventh-highest death toll in the world. On Sunday, it reported 48,161 new cases and 25 deaths.