The 10-day isolation period for people who test positive for Covid is to be scrapped in England, according to reports, along with track and trace and regular Covid testing.
The UK Government is drawing up plans for Covid to be dealt with like any other respiratory illness - such as the flu - reports The Sun.
The paper says the plan has been codenamed Operation Rampdown.
Prof Robert Dingwall, of Nottingham Trent University, told The Sun: “Treating Covid like any other respiratory infection should encourage people to dial down the fear and anxiety that have bedevilled the country for the past couple of years.”
Covid cases are continuing to rise - up more than 20 per cent week on week - and the UK Government looks set to announce that under-50s will be offered a third dose of the vaccine from today.
Conservative Party chairman Oliver Dowden today said it is up to the public whether there are restrictions at Christmas - saying that if enough people get vaccinated we won't need them.
Surging case numbers have prompted new lockdowns in Austria and the Netherlands in recent days.
Operation Rampodown would not come into effect until next year - probably after the winter surge in Covid and flu that will place huge pressure on the NHS.
