Britons have been urged to “enjoy the sun” but not “blow it now” as large crowds gathered in parks after lockdown restrictions were eased on Monday.

People basked in the sun on Tuesday as temperatures soared to levels not seen since 1968. with Kew Gardens in London recording highs of 24.5C.

The small change in lockdown restrictions – which now allow people to meet in groups of six or two households outdoors – and stunning weather encouraged many to flock to their nearest green space or bench.

My colleague Samuel Osborne reports:

Hundreds of people flocked to a park in Leeds on Tuesday to bask in the sunshine – but left litter and rubbish throughout the area.

Armed police were called to Woodhouse Moor at around 8pm after reports that someone had a knife. Ambulance crews also attended the scene and a police helicopter was heard circling the area.

This morning, locals posted photos and videos of yesterday’s aftermath, showing large amounts of rubbish left behind by park-goers. Residents and park caretakers have been cleaning up, and criticised those who visited on Tuesday for polluting the area.

Glastonbury festival has announced a global livestream event will be held at Worthy Farm in May this year, with performances by Coldplay, Damon Albarn, Jorja Smith, Haim, Wolf Alice, Michael Kiwanuka, and more.

Organiser Emily Eavis said the virtual event, which is ticketed, will be streamed from well-known sites around the farm including the Stone Circle and Pyramid field.

She told Dermot O’Leary on BBC Radio 2 that the event is going to be “taking you on a five-hour journey through an evening at Worthy Farm with artists, so it’s going to be like the festival but without people”.

“We’re going to take you on a journey through all of those spots that you know, you recognise from Worthy Farm… We’re going to build into this whole epic journey around the site into the night,” added Ms Eavis.

Describing the event as “ambitious”, she said: “We’re very excited to be able to show the farm in a way that people have never really seen it, with these incredible artists.”

It comes after the festival was cancelled for a second year in a row due to the coronavirus pandemic. Ms Eavis told the programme it will be “back next year, that’s the plan”.

Tickets for the virtual event will cost £20.

Surge testing has been introduced in Bolton after a case of the South African Covid-19 variant was detected in the Greater Manchester town.

Mobile screening has been set up at the Wingates Industrial Estate – home to a variety of businesses – after a worker there was identified as being positive.

The South African variant is considered of particular concern because it appears to have a so-called escape mutation that could render current vaccines less effective.

Our North of England Correspondent, Colin Drury, reports:

Communities secretary Robert Jenrick said people should “exercise caution” and avoid “the most crowded places” when going out to enjoy the sunshine.

He told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “We just need to exercise caution and be sensible and pragmatic about how we do that.

“I think the vast majority of people are and will do that, they will enjoy the sunshine this week and at the Easter Weekend, but they’ll do so in a sensible and cautious way.

“The two things aren’t mutually exclusive – you can go and out, have fun, enjoy the great outdoors and the sunshine, while also trying to be careful, sticking to the rules and trying to avoid the most crowded places.”

He added: “What we hope and expect to happen is that we can continue moving forward through the road map and this will be a irreversible opening up of society and the economy.

“There’s nothing that’s happened so far that leads us to think that isn’t correct.”

Nearly four million Britons who have been shielding for months will no longer be asked to do so from Thursday.

Those who have been shielding include clinically extremely vulnerable people, such as those with various cancers, people on immunosuppression drugs or those with severe respiratory conditions.

They were asked to stay in their homes and avoid social contact to a higher degree to avoid potential infection from Covid-19.

But shielding will come to an end in England and Wales on 1 April, while plans for Scotland and Northern Ireland have not yet been finalised.

Dr Jenny Harries, deputy chief medical officer for England, said earlier this month: “With the prevalence of the virus in the community continuing to decrease, now is the right time for people to start thinking about easing up on these more rigid guidelines.

“If you have been shielding, we strongly urge you to take extra precautions following April 1 to keep yourself as safe as possible, such as continuing to observe social distancing and working from home.

“We will continue to monitor all of the evidence and adjust this advice should there be any changes in infection rates.”

A senior Chinese health official said on Wednesday there was no factual basis to accusations that China did not share data with researchers appointed by the World Health Organization (WHO) to look into the origins of Covid-19.

Liang Wannian, who was co-leader of the joint study into the origins of Covid-19 by China and the WHO published on Tuesday, told reporters that the Chinese and international researchers had access to the same data.

He also said the Chinese part of the joint research had now been completed, and the world now needed to look further into potential early cases of COVID-19 outside China in the next phase of its research into the origins of the pandemic.

The head of the World Health Organisation (WHO) has called for further investigation of suggestions the coronavirus may have spread from a Wuhan laboratory.

Nations including the US and the UK have expressed concerns over Beijing’s lack of transparency during a probe into the origins of the virus.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said data had been withheld from investigators looking into the source of the virus, reports my colleague Vincent Wood.

The UK government is still “100 per cent confident” in the AstraZeneca vaccine, Robert Jenrick has said, following Germany’s decision to restrict its use to people over the age of 60.

The communities secretary was asked if there was a need to investigate the AstraZeneca Covid vaccine again.

Mr Jenrick told Sky News: “No, we don’t, we’re 100% confident in the efficacy of the vaccine, that’s borne out by study after study, by our own independent world-class regulators and by recent research, for example, by Public Health England that’s shown that thousands of people’s lives have been saved since the start of this year alone thanks to our vaccine programme.

“People should continue to go forward, get the vaccine, I certainly will when my time comes, it is a safe vaccine and the UK’s vaccine rollout is saving people’s lives right across the country every day.”

Anyone over the age of six in Spain must wear a face covering in all public spaces, regardless of whether they are indoors or outdoors.

This means anyone going to Spanish beaches to sunbathe and swim will also have to wear a face mask.

According to the new law, published on Tuesday in the Official State Gazette, it is now mandatory to wear face masks “on public streets, in outdoor spaces and in any closed space that has a public use or is open to the public”.

Prior to the new rule, face coverings were only mandatory in public and outdoor spaces when keeping a 1.5m social distance from other people was not possible. Regional governments were also free to adapt the rules as they saw fit, but must now adhere to the nationwide regulation.