Photos: Free at last to hug and party as UK reopens for Business

Community coordinator Terence Surin hugs Joan Brock, 101, who is a resident at Alexander House Care Home in Wimbledon, as coronavirus disease (COVID-19) restrictions continue to ease, London. Britons hugged their loved ones and streamed into gyms and other indoor venues on Monday as the country eased pandemic restrictions, but Asia faced more misery with new variants and a cyclone disrupting the fight against the Covid-19 wave ravaging India.

People attend a roller skating disco at Roller Nation. Visitors also returned to cinemas, galleries, museums and theatres, while fitness classes resumed and sports venues opened their doors for the first time in months.

Visitors queue to enter The National Gallery in London.

Lord Mayor of London William Russell, arrives by horse-drawn cart to visit the re-opened restaurants in London as Covid-19 lockdown restrictions ease across the country.

Stephen Crowe embraces his mother Susan Crowe, 96, who is a resident at Alexander House Care Home in Wimbledon.

Staff at Loxley's Restaurant take part in a new menu tasting and training before reopening .

Staff members wear masks while they work at a restaurant in London.

People ride in a capsule of the London Eye as the attraction reopens in London, Britain.

People exercise along Horse Guards Road in central London.

Customers wearing face coverings queue to board a pod on the re-opened London Eye tourist attraction in London.

A staff member serves customer Jodie Johnston and a baby holding a menu at a restaurant.

Passengers wait at check-in desks in the departures hall in Terminal 5 at London Heathrow Airport in London. After a year of false starts, rogue virus strains and vaccine drama, Brits are finally able to travel again, if only to a handful of “green list” destinations that won’t require quarantine on return.