The Prime Minister set out his plans for England to 'Live with Covid' this afternoon: scrapping all coronavirus restrictions and announcing the country will now rely on vaccines and treatments.
In a statement made in the House of Commons, he ended the legal requirement to isolate after a positive coronavirus test and confirmed that free lateral flow and PCR tests will be axed.
He urged the general public to instead combat the virus by "exercising personal responsibility", in a move that has been slammed by opposition parties.
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Setting out “four principles” on ending all Covid restrictions in England, Boris Johnson told MPs: “First, we will remove all remaining domestic restrictions in law.
“From this Thursday, February 24, we will end the legal requirement to self-isolate following a positive test and so we will also end self-isolation support payments, although Covid provisions for statutory sick pay can still be claimed for a further month.
“We will end routine contact tracing and no longer ask fully vaccinated close contacts and those under 18 to test daily for seven days.”
Free universal testing will end in England on April 1, including for those with symptoms.
But the Government will set out who will continue to be entitled to testing in March, the Prime Minister suggested, after being criticised for passing the cost of testing onto carers who need to protect vulnerable relatives.
He said they are also working with retailers to ensure that everyone who wants to can buy a test.
Labour Leader Keir Starmer responded by accusing Boris Johnson of "chaos and disarray" in ditching Covid laws.
He argued that the PM's approach does not do enough "to prepare us for the new variants which may yet develop" and that axing free testing is akin to "subbing of best defender when your team is 2-1 up".
He also said that ending self-isolation support payments and weakening sick pay "will hit the lowest paid and the most insecure workers the hardest.”
Professor Robert West, a health psychologist from University College London and a member of the Scientific Pandemic Insights group on Behaviours (Spi-B) which feeds into Sage, told Times Radio he thinks the Government has moved to “abdicate its own responsibility for looking after its population”.
Speaking in a personal capacity, he said one in 20 people currently has Covid-19 and 150 people are dying each day.
“It looks as though what the Government has said is that it accepts that the country is going to have to live with somewhere between 20,000 and 80,000 Covid deaths a year and isn’t really going to do anything about it,” he said. “Now that seems to me to be irresponsible.”
Today's news was paired with an announcement by the Health Secretary that a fourth Covid jab will be available from spring to over 75s, older adults in care homes and immunosuppressed people aged 12 and over.
Details are yet to be finalised, but the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has published guidance recommending another booster for these groups.
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