Britain is set to lift its social distancing rules come Jun. 21, 2021, as predicted by Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (UK) Boris Johnson on May 3.

Social distancing no more

Johnson was asked about the possibility of social distancing coming to an end on Jun. 21 during a campaign visit in northern England.

He replied: "I think we've got a good chance, a good chance, of being able to dispense with one-metre plus."

Current social distancing rules require Britons to stay 1m apart.

This rule is a part of other measures aiming to mitigate the spread of infections within the UK.

Roadmap out of lockdown

Johnson had previously announced a four-step plan – a roadmap out of lockdown – as widespread rollout of vaccinations and inoculations have helped to stem infections in the UK.

More than 34 million people in the UK have received the first dose of the vaccine.

The next step that Johnson's government will take is to ease foreign travel on May 17.

Taking into consideration the Covid-19 situation that had been unfolding in other countries, Johnson was quick to caution that this does not equate to a complete lifting of the foreign travel ban.

"We do want to do some opening up on May the 17th, but I don't think that the people of this country want to see an influx of disease from anywhere else. I certainly don't. We've got to be very, very tough, and we've got to be as cautious as we can," he said.

Party like it's 2019

In its plan to relax Covid-19 preventive measures, the UK government had also launched a few pilot tests to study how more venues can re-open to the public safely.

This included the government-backed two-day-rave at a Liverpool nightclub that was attended by around 3,000 people between the ages of 18 to 20 years old.

Another 5,000 people attended a two-day-long pilot outdoor festival – Festival Republic – at Sefton Park, Liverpool, albeit with a curfew of 10pm.

In both events, all partygoers did not have to don their face mask nor observe social distancing.

Prior to the event, attendees had to go for swab tests to test negative within the 24 hours window of the event.

Data collected from these events will be studied to understand the effects that social distancing measures amongst crowds and ventilation have on the spread of the virus.

Top image via Boris Johnson & Lost UK Facebook