England marks the end of more than a year of COVID-19 lockdown restrictions on Monday, a day that local media have dubbed "Freedom Day".
From midnight, laws in England requiring facemasks to be worn in shops and other indoor settings lapsed, as did capacity limits in bars and restaurants, and rules limiting the number of people who can socialise together.
"This is the right moment but we’ve got to do it cautiously. We’ve got to remember that this virus is sadly still out there," said UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson in a video message recorded on Sunday.
Not everybody will be heeding the advice on caution though.
"I want to dance, I want to hear live music, I want the vibe of being at a gig, of being around other people," a member of the public in London was quoted as saying.
Britain reported 48,161 new cases on Sunday and is forecast to soon have more new infections each day than it did at the height of a second wave of the virus earlier this year.
The government is hoping that the relatively high vaccination rate in the country will keep severe illness and deaths low.
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