Coronavirus: UK PM to lift all Covid curbs; Prince Charles tests positive; Sweden declares pandemic over
- England’s dramatic step will take effect later this month as Boris Johnson plans to scrap self-isolation rules for those who test positive: the last restriction
- The heir to the British throne, 73, previously tested positive for Covid-19 in March 2020 after he and his wife Camilla had received the vaccine
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson plans to scrap self-isolation rules for people in England who test positive for Covid-19, ending the last of the pandemic restrictions that have dominated daily life for the past two years.
The dramatic step is due to take effect later this month and would move England beyond other major Western countries in relaxing virus curbs. While regulations forcing people to self-isolate at home for five days are only set to expire on March 24, Johnson said Wednesday he expects to lift them “a full month early.”
With more people vaccinated and the highly-transmissible Omicron variant proving almost unstoppable, a number of countries have been easing rules and trying to return life to normal as quickly as possible. However, not everybody is in favour of the move.
“The prime minister’s announcement is very puzzling, and we must hope that he will publish the relevant scientific evidence soon,” Martin McKee, professor of European public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. “Otherwise, there is a danger that it will be seen as a diversion from his current problems and undermine public trust.”
The change in rules will be part of the government’s “Living with Covid” strategy to be announced February 21. Johnson said the final restrictions will be lifted early “provided that the current encouraging trends in the data continue.” Official guidance will remain that people with infectious diseases shouldn’t go to workplaces.
The UK recorded 66,183 confirmed virus infections and 314 deaths on Tuesday, while the seven-day average of cases has fallen by 20 per cent in the last week. Hospital admissions for Covid-19 have declined since the start of the year, while numbers in intensive care are far below the peak seen last winter.