Boris Johnson announced Monday that despite a rise in Coronavirus cases he would be scrapping all Covid-19 restrictions on July 19th.
The Prime Minister said: “We will move away from legal restrictions and allow people to make their own informed decisions about how to manage the virus.”
Social distancing measures and face coverings will no longer be mandatory but people have been warned to ‘exercise judgement’.
READ MORE: All the places you could still be asked to wear a facemask from July 19
However, worrying data from the World Health Organisation (WHO) shows that over half of the 10 worst hotspots in Europe are in the UK.
The top 10 Covid hotspots in Europe, based on Covid incidences across the last seven days, are:
- Tayside, UK: 687 cases
- North East, UK: 616 cases
- Lothian: 574 cases
- Nur-Sultan City, Kazakhstan: 496 cases
- Greater Glasgow and Clyde, UK: 490 cases
- Cyprus: 424 cases
- Fife, UK: 422 cases
- North West, UK: 411 cases
- Chui, Kyrgyztan: 403 cases
- Algarve, Portugal: 361 cases
Despite the data, ‘Freedom Day’ is set to be confirmed on July 12 with restrictions set to be eased entirely on July 19.
Health Secretary, Sajid Javid, said: “No date we choose comes with zero-risk for COVID. We know we cannot simply eliminate it – we have to learn to live with it.
“We also know that people and businesses need certainty. So we want every step to be irreversible.
“And make no mistake, the restrictions to our freedoms must come to an end.”
He also warned that there could be 100,000 Covid cases a day by the summer as a result of the relaxed restrictions.
Receive newsletters with the latest news, sport and what's on updates from the Liverpool ECHO by signing up here
