Cultural venues such as cinemas as well as pubs and restaurants will be allowed to readmit customers.
Cultural venues, including cinemas, art galleries and museums will be allowed to reopen in England from July 4, Prime Minister Boris Johnson will announce Tuesday afternoon.
The surprise move comes on top of pre-trailed plans to allow pubs, cafés and restaurants to admit customers again and a move, confirmed at the weekend by Health Secretary Matt Hancock, to reduce the 2-meter social distancing rule.
The series of measures to further ease the lockdown in England — including strict guidelines on how establishments should minimize infection risk — must be rubber-stamped at a Cabinet meeting this morning. Johnson will then deliver a statement to the House of Commons at 12:30 p.m.
The announcement on cultural venues will be accompanied by specific rules. Government sources said these could include one-way systems, spaced queuing, increased ventilation and pre-booked tickets. Cinemas are expected to sell only a certain proportion of seats for each movie, while galleries and museums will massively reduce the number of people allowed in at any one time.
The devolved governments of Scotland and Wales have yet to announce when bars and restaurants will reopen. Establishments in Northern Ireland can readmit customers from July 3.
