Children will head back to school on March 8th and shops, hairdressers, gyms and outdoor hospitality will reopen on April 12th in England if strict conditions are met, under plans set out by Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

The BBC reports that up to six people from separate households could be able to meet in beer gardens from that date.

The new four-step plan to ease lockdown could see all legal limits on social contact lifted by June 21st.

It requires four tests on vaccines, infection rates and new coronavirus variants to be met at each stage.

The PM told MPs in the House of Commons today that the plan aimed to be "cautious but irreversible", and at every stage decisions would be led by "data not dates".

But he warned there was "no credible route to a zero-Covid Britain nor indeed a zero-Covid world".

As part of the first step of the plan:

From March 8th - All schools will open with outdoor after-school sports and activities allowed. Recreation in outdoor public spaces - such as a park - will be allowed between two people, meaning they would be allowed to sit down for a coffee, drink or picnic.

From March 29th - Outdoor gatherings of either six people or two households will be allowed. It is understood this will include gatherings in private gardens.

Outdoor sports facilities such as tennis or basketball courts will reopen and organised adult and children's sport, such as grassroots football, will also return.

Secondary school pupils will be required to wear face coverings in classrooms and shared spaces such as corridors.

The second step comes from April 12th, which will see major parts of the economy permitted to reopen:

• Non-essential retail, hairdressers and public buildings such as libraries and museums
• Outdoor settings such as alcohol takeaways, beer gardens, zoos and theme parks
• Indoor leisure such as swimming pools and gyms
• Self-contained holiday accommodation, such as self-catering lets and campsites.

But wider social contact rules will continue to apply in all settings - meaning no indoor mixing between different households will be allowed. The Prime Minister confirmed the end of hospitality curfews - and requirements to eat a substantial meal alongside alcohol. Funerals continue with up to 30 people, and weddings with up to 15 guests. The third step will come from May 17th - if the data allows - and will see the 'rule of six' abolished for outdoor gatherings, replaced with a limit of 30 people:

• Two households will be able to mix indoors - with the rule of six applied in hospitality settings such as pubs
• Cinemas, hotels, performances and sporting events reopen - though social distancing remains
• Up to 10,000 spectators can attend the very largest outdoor seated venues such as football stadia
• Up to 30 people will be able to attend weddings, receptions, funerals and wakes.

The fourth step, from June 21st, will potentially see all legal limits on social contact removed, with the final closed sectors of the economy reopened, such as nightclubs.

The Government says it hopes that, from this date, restrictions on weddings and funerals will also be abolished.

The four conditions that must be met at each phase of lockdown easing are:

• The coronavirus vaccine programme continues to go to plan
• Evidence shows vaccines are sufficiently reducing the number of people dying with the virus or needing hospital treatment
• Infection rates do not risk a surge in hospital admissions
• New variants of the virus do not fundamentally change the risk of lifting restrictions.

The Prime Minister is set to hold a press conference at 7pm this evening.