Pubgoers and diners in England will be able to sit inside again from next Monday, Boris Johnson has confirmed.

The PM confirmed stage three of the ‘roadmap out of lockdown’ will go ahead as planned on May 17 at a press conference today.

It means hospitality venues can seat customers indoors as planned, although they can still only attend in groups of six (or two households of any number).

Punters must also continue to follow rules designed to minimise transmission, such as ordering from tables, wearing masks when not seated and checking in with NHS test and trace.

Pubs were allowed to reopen beer gardens on April 12, although many were left unable to welcome drinkers back as they did not have enough outside space.

With deaths and hospitalisations at their lowest level since last July and the UK’s four chief medical officers today agreeing a reduction in the alert level, the data now support moving to Step 3 in England from next Monday the 17th of May.

Speaking at a Downing Street press conference, Mr Johnson said England was now ready to move forward to Step 4 of lockdown easing.

He added: ‘This means the Rule of Six, or two households, that is applied outdoors, will now apply indoors and the limit for outdoor meetings will increase to 30.

‘From next Monday you will be able to sit inside a pub and inside a restaurant. You’ll be able to go the cinema and children will be able to use indoor play areas.’

Mixing between households will also be permitted inside people’s homes under the same revised Rule of Six.

The date will mark the first time in nearly half a year that people will be allowed to socialise indoors with friends or family who are not living, or part of a support bubble, with them.

Meanwhile Sage, the government’s panel of scientists advising on the pandemic, is expected to publicise new modelling showing there is little chance of another severe wave this summer.

The prediction has been widely expected as rates of hospital admissions and infections have fallen to lows last seen in August – but researchers have had to wait for enough data on the effectiveness of vaccines to confirm it.

Experts have warned transmission rates could rise again as lockdown continues to ease, urging the public to stick to the updated rules and social distancing guidelines to avoid tipping the scales in the virus’ favour again.

However some have expressed optimism that the key metrics of serious illnesses and deaths will stay down even if the R rate rises thanks to the huge proportion of vulnerable people who have been vaccinated.

Professor Sir John Bell, regius professor of medicine at Oxford University, said the the UK is in a ‘very strong position’ to stick to the government’s roadmap.

He told ITV’s Good Morning Britain on Monday that evidence was now solid of a ‘rather rapid fall-off’ in cases, hospital admissions and deaths after people were given their first dose of the vaccine in the UK, US and Israel.

Prof Sir John added: ‘There’s some very interesting data that shows that even from a single dose of vaccine, when you move from where the US was a couple of weeks ago — which was about 43 per cent of people having a single dose through to where we were with 51 per cent — we’re now higher than that to Israel, which was 58 per cent.

‘You see a rather rapid fall-off in cases of disease, but also hospitalisations and deaths, and it’s a really very striking fall in all those things.

‘I do think that we’re in a very strong position to go forward now with fewer restrictions and try and get back to normal.’

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