Many people are rightly quite excited about the reopening of shops and businesses in our high streets - as The Mail has repeatedly said in previous editions - these businesses are far from 'non-essential'.

And while we'd encourage everyone to once again patronise their local, independently owned shops, which badly need our custom - it's worth reiterating a word of caution:

The coronavirus pandemic has not gone away.

There is currently no vaccine, and there currently is no cure.

The relaxation of some lockdown guidelines does not mean the complete abandonment of them, and it will be many months, even more than a year, before a return to normality. This can only really happen once a vaccine is developed.

However, if the recent scenes in the Lake District, where scores of campers and tourists crowded the county's beauty spots, are anything to go by, then some people certainly think the crisis is over.

While the reopening of 'non-essential' businesses has been made possible by the easing of lockdown guidelines, this relaxation of the rules has been hard won. It is therefore the responsibility of everyone to double their efforts to limit the spread of the virus, especially now that more and more of us will be once again frequenting the high street.