All remaining coronavirus measures for travellers to Britain will end Friday, paving the way for people to “travel just like in the good old days” according to UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps. That means passenger locator forms will no longer be necessary and unvaccinated people won’t be required to be tested for COVID-19 before and after their arrivals.

The news, announced Monday, and which notably comes ahead of the Easter travel weekend (April 15-18) was welcomed by UK airlines such as British Airways and Virgin Atlantic, which said they are beginning to ease mask wearing requirements on some routes.

The announcement came as coronavirus infections were rising in all four parts of the UK — England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland — for the first time since the end of January. The latest government figures released Monday showed that there were more than 444,000 new cases recorded in the past seven days, up 48% from the week before.

The number of hospital patients with COVID-19 is also going up, though it is still well below the peak recorded in January. Scientists say many of the new infections in England were a more transmissible sub-variant of the omicron variant.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid said the rise in infections was “to be expected” as people socialize more after all domestic coronavirus restrictions, including the legal requirement for anyone who tested positive to self isolate, came to an end Feb. 24.

“We will continue monitoring and tracking potential new variants and keep a reserve of measures which can be rapidly deployed if needed to keep us safe,” Javid said.