Boris Johnson has failed to deny that as many as 3.5 million people a week will be forced into self-isolation by his decision to scrap all coronavirus restrictions on 19 July.
The PM was pressed repeatedly in the Commons to spell out forecasts of deaths, hospitalisations and self-isolation orders, and was twice rebuked by Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle as he dodged the question.
Meanwhile, the government has revealed it is considering charging people for lateral-flow tests from next month.
As infections continue to rise, cancer patients at one of England’s largest hospital trusts face having their surgeries cancelled.
And a medical Nobel laureate has warned the decision to lift rules such as mandatory face coverings could unleash a “vaccine-resistant variant”.
Sir Paul Nurse, the chief executive of the Francis Crick Institute, which has been heavily involved in Covid-19 research, questioned the wisdom of opening up “so much so fast” when infections were increasing rapidly.
He said the policy could “create a variant resistant to the vaccine”.
Experts are warning the policy change will condemn thousands of young Britons to long Covid, with the British Medical Association telling The Independent that up to 10,000 people could be struck down by the debilitating condition in the coming weeks.
Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran, chairperson of the all-party parliamentary group on coronavirus, said that long-Covid sufferers would be the “collateral damage” of Boris Johnson’s approach, and campaigners have written to health secretary Sajid Javid urging him to reconsider.
