Outdoor picnics and meeting friends for a coffee in the park will be the first activities allowed to take place when lockdown restrictions are eased next month, it has been reported.

Boris Johnson said he is ‘optimistic’ he will be able to set out plans for a ‘cautious’ lifting of coronavirus controls in England later this month.

Along with primary schools reopening on March 8, people will be able to go for coffee on a park bench or enjoy a picnic with someone in their own household or one other person, a senior Government source told the Telegraph.

However, mixing of households will not be permitted either outdoors or indoors, according to the newspaper.

It marks the first official confirmation that the third national lockdown will begin to ease next month.

Mr Johnson said that the Government’s priority remained the opening of schools in England on March 8, to be followed by other sectors as conditions allowed.

Ministers are thought to be privately discussing the idea of pubs being allowed to open their doors at the beginning of April, in time for households to enjoy Easter lunch together.

According to the Telegraph, they are working on an Australia-style approach which will see localised lockdowns imposed in areas with flare-ups.

The PM will outline his ‘roadmap’ out of lockdown for England on February 22.

The vaccination programme is on track to meet the Government’s target of getting an offer of a jab to everyone in the top four priority groups – including the over-70s – by the deadline of Monday.

Mr Johnson is expected to hold a Downing Street briefing to mark the moment.

Speaking during a visit to a vaccine manufacturing facility in Teesside on Saturday, the PM said: I’m optimistic, I won’t hide if from you. I’m optimistic but we have to be cautious.’

He added that the efficacy of the vaccines in helping to drive down infection rates would be the key to determining how quickly they could ease restrictions.

Mr Johnson went on: ‘Although the number is beginning to come down and perhaps starting to come down quite fast we need to look at the data very, very hard.

‘Something also that will be very important is the efficacy of the vaccines – are they working in the way that we hope that they are – and making sure they are really helping, along with the lockdown, to drive down the incidence. That is the key thing.’

His comments came as scientists continued to urge caution over the easing of the current controls.

One scientist advising the Government said ministers risked a third wave of the pandemic as big as the current one if they moved too quickly while senior NHS figures said the health service remained under huge pressure.

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