LONDON, April 13 (Xinhua) -- After one of the toughest years in living memory, high streets across England have been back in business as the next phase of the British government's roadmap out of COVID-19 lockdown came into operation on Monday.
From major department stores to local businesses such as restaurants, barber shops and hair salons, the doors flung open on Monday with the dawn chorus once more ringing to the tunes of cash tills.
A few bars and salons wasted no time in welcoming back customers, opening their doors at the stroke of midnight.
In Liverpool, restaurant owner Justino Romero admitted it had been a difficult year but said he was glad to be at least partly re-opening.
His eatery, Justinos, located in the city's fashionable Aigburth district, counts premier league footballers and celebrities among customers. But currently, diners will have to be served to dine at outdoor tables.
"For now, the outdoor seating means we are only at 15 percent of our capacity, but I'm glad we have at least opened. With the closure from the start of this year, along with last year's shutdown, it had been a tough year," Romero told Xinhua.
His high street neighbor, Brian Hancox, reopened his popular barber shop, already fully booked for the days ahead.
Hancox said he was undaunted by the prospect of sorting out the impact of his customer's do-it-yourself attempts at cutting hair.
"We'll be able to sort out everybody's hair," a smiling Hancox told Xinhua at his Liverpool shop.
However, the big test across England is whether people will heed the call by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to continue to take measures against the spread of COVID-19.
Johnson urged people to behave responsibly as England took another step in a partial return to normality after it entered its third lockdown in early January.
Describing Monday's relaxations as a major step forward in the roadmap to freedom, Johnson said "I'm sure it will be a huge relief for those business owners who have been closed for so long, and for everyone else it's a chance to get back to doing some of the things we love and have missed."
Some academics have expressed fears that the new freedoms, which follow the re-opening of schools and colleges, could see COVID-19 cases climbing.
Mike Tildesley, an expert in infectious disease modelling at the University of Warwick and member of the British government's Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling, warned any form of reopening could lead to higher risk.
"We need to remember that with any form of reopening there's going to be more mixing, and so we might expect that that could lead to higher risk," he told Times Radio.
"We might expect it could have a resurgence, it's really, really important therefore that people follow the rules that are in place, with this relaxation."
Newspapers and television stations across England showed photographs of smiling traders, happy to be back in business after the COVID-19 layoffs.
Flower stalls opened in markets, people were tucking into cooked restaurants breakfasts on their way to work, and many were enjoying an early work out at their favorite gyms.
The re-opening of shops saw crowds flocking to London's famous Oxford Street, eager to snap up bargains.
And while people were raising their pints of beer on a chilly April day, there was a warning by the British Beer & Pub Association that some bars were hanging on by their fingertips.
Emma McClarkin, the association's CEO, said government support is needed to encourage customers back to pubs and bars, describing Monday's reopening as a first small step in a very long journey to recovery.
"The pandemic has absolutely seen an acceleration in the closing of the Great British pub. The reality is it's going to take a while to regain that confidence but we hope that we have proven in those environments that we can host people safely," McClarkin told Sky News.
Another 3,568 people in Britain have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 4,373,343, according to official figures released Monday.
To bring life back to normal, countries such as Britain, China, Russia, the United States as well as the European Union have been racing against time to roll out coronavirus vaccines. Enditem