Coronavirus: New advice for businesses in England on how to reopen safely.

Today (24 June) updated guidance has been published on how hairdressers, hotels, pubs and other businesses in England can reopen safely from 4 July.

It includes some general advice for all businesses as well as guidance for specific sectors, including advice to reconfigure seating, minimise self-service, cancel live acts and stagger arrivals.

It comes after Boris Johnson announced sweeping changes to England's lockdown, including a relaxing of the 2m rule.

This means people should stay at least 2m (6ft) apart where possible, but otherwise should remain at least 1m apart while taking steps to reduce the risk of transmission, such as wearing face coverings.

Boris Johnson also announced that hotels, pubs, restaurants, cinemas and hairdressers are among the venues which will be allowed to reopen from 4th July.

The updated government guidance says businesses should carry out a Covid-19 risk assessment to ensure the safety of their workplace, which should be shared on their website, and also develop cleaning and hygiene procedures.

Guidance for close contact services such as hairdressers says employees should wear a visor where it is not possible to maintain distance and customers could also be separated from each other by screens.

Places like pubs, restaurants, hotels and hairdressers are asked to keep a temporary record of customers and visitors for 21 days, to support the test and trace system.

Business Secretary Alok Sharma said he expected people to continue to use "common sense" and follow government guidelines.

But he said there was a "legal duty" for businesses to keep their employees safe and the Health and Safety Executive could take action if not.