I awoke one morning late last year to find a bright red bauble at the foot of my bed. It wouldn’t have looked amiss adorning a Christmas tree. But it felt ready to explode. It was my big toe, and this was my first encounter with gout.

In good company

With a history spanning more than 4,500 years, gout is among our earliest recorded diseases. Hippocrates, traditionally regarded as the father of medicine, called it “the unwalkable disease”, because it was very painful for people with gout to walk.

Many famous historical figures suffered with gout, including Christopher Columbus, Henry VIII, Benjamin Franklin and Beethoven. It became known as “the disease of kings”.

From 11:59pm tonight, we will largely return to the previous rules – while keeping a watchful eye on some of the riskier settings.

There’ll no longer be four reasons to leave home. The five-kilometre restriction will no longer apply.

Restaurants and retail can reopen. Same too with community facilities, entertainment venues and all other public places – although some additional limits on crowd sizes will be in place.