England is just three days away from ending virtually all Covid restrictions as UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson unveils his Living With Covid plan to the nation.
Coming almost two years after the first lockdown, the plan’s headline is that people will no longer have to self-isolate if they test positive from Thursday February 24 and neither will their close contacts, with the UK government leaving the decision in the hands of its English citizens.
People with symptoms in England will be asked to “exercise personal responsibility when deciding whether to stay at home.”
Meanwhile, free testing will end in England from April 1, at which point only the most vulnerable people and the elderly will have access to free tests.
Johnson’s plan also ends the £500 ($680) isolation payment for people forced to self-isolate on low incomes.
He unveiled Living with Covid in the past hour in the UK’s House of Commons and will lead a televised press conference in one hour’s time alongside UK Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty and Chief Scientific Adviser Patrick Vallance.
Decisions about Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales are decided by their respective devolved governments and therefore don’t fall under the Living with Covid plan.
Restrictions were briefly tightened in England with Omicron raging in December but were reversed fairly swiftly, as the variant did not have the expected negative impact on hospitalizations.
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