From Monday 15 June, places of worship will be able to re-open for individual prayer. New guidance will be provided to places of worship to ensure this limited re-opening can be done safely and in line with social distancing guidelines.

At this point, communally-led prayer, worship or devotion such as services, evensong, informal prayer meetings, Mass, Jummah or Kirtan will not be possible. I completely understand how difficult the current situation is, and how many people will understandably now turn to their faith during these challenging times.

Many places of worship are already running online services, and the BBC is also now running more religious programming. I hope that you are able to access some of these. The Communities Secretary has also been speaking to faith leaders and has convened a task force to work towards the full reopening of places of worship as soon as the scientific advice allows.

Beating coronavirus will take months not weeks, but this is why as we ease restrictions everyone must stay alert and follow the rules – because if not the Government will have no choice but to impose lockdown again and we will be back at square one. So as we begin to recover and return to our way of life, it is vital that we all stay alert, so we can control the virus and save lives