Honiton: From today, the rules on facemasks and Covid passes are being relaxed in England

This morning (January 27) the government's relaxation of Plan B COVID measures came into force, meaning that people are no longer required by law to wear facemasks in shops and on public transport.

Guidance on face masks in communal areas of schools and educational settings has also been removed.

However, some shops and organisations, such as Sainsbury's and John Lewis, are still asking customers to wear a mask.

Organisations will also be able to decide for themselves whether they wish to continue to use Covid passes, which are also no longer legally required.

Sajid Javid, the Health Secretary, believes the relaxation of Plan B was possible because of the success of the vaccine rollout and an improvement in Covid-19 treatments.

Additional measures which were in place to reduce the spread of the Omicron variant, such as working from home wherever possible, have already been dropped.

The relaxing of the rules comes as cases of Covid-19 in East Devon are increasing. In the week up to January 16, there were 1,362 cases, which is an increase of 366 cases on the previous week.