Monday, May 25, 2020 at 4:05 pm 

LONDON (AP) – The vast majority of shops in England will be allowed to reopen next month as the government gradually eases coronavirus lockdown restrictions.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson says outdoor markets and spacious car showrooms can open from June 1 because the likelihood of transmission is low there.

Clothes stores, bookshops, tailors, auctioneers and other retailers will follow on June 15, as long as the number of infections continues to fall and the businesses can be made “COVID-19 secure.”

The other parts of the U.K. — Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland — can set their own timetables.

Since a nationwide lockdown was imposed on March 23, only shops classed as “essential,” such as supermarkets, have been allowed to operate.