Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson gestures during his visit to Finchley Memorial Hospital, in north London, Tuesday, January 18, 2022.
Highlight
- UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that face masks will no longer be mandatory in public places
- Govt no longer advising people to work from home: PM Johnson
- The restrictions were imposed in December to slow the rapid spread of the Omicron version.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Wednesday (January 19) that face masks would no longer be mandatory in public places and that COVID-19 passports would be abandoned for large events as infections leveled across much of the country.
Johnson told lawmakers that restrictions are being eased because government scientists think it is likely that the growth of infections induced by the highly infectious Omicron variant “is now peaking nationally.”
While hospitals in northern England are still being strained by high caseloads and infections in schools still rising, Johnson said hospital admissions and patients in intensive care units elsewhere in England were stagnant or falling.
The government is no longer advising people to work from home, and mandatory face masks will be phased out in secondary school classrooms from Thursday.
A mandatory COVID-19 pass will not be required to gain entry to large-scale events starting January 27. From that day on, face masks will no longer be legally required anywhere in England.
“We will trust the judgment of the British people and will not criminalize anyone who doesn’t want to wear it,” Johnson said.
Read also: UK will lift additional COVID restrictions including mandate to wear face masks: PM Boris Johnson
The restrictions were imposed in December to slow the rapid spread of the Omicron variant and to buy time for the population to receive booster vaccine shots.
Johnson said on Wednesday that more than 90% of people over the age of 60 in the UK have received booster shots.
Official data showed that COVID-19 infections declined across much of the UK for the first time since early December. The government on Wednesday reported 108,069 new cases, which is almost half of the daily number recorded during the holidays.
Self-isolation is required for infected people for five full days, but Johnson said that this measure will also be phased out in the coming weeks. He said the self-isolation rule expires on March 24, adding that he will try to end it first if the virus figures continue to improve.
Both Johnson and Health Secretary Sajid Javid suggested the government was planning for a post-pandemic period when it could treat COVID-19 like the flu.
“Soon there will come a time when we can completely remove the legal requirement to self-isolate, just as we don’t have a legal obligation to isolate people when they have the flu,” Johnson said.
Nonetheless, Johnson urged people to remain vigilant in the last weeks of winter and stressed that the pandemic “is not over.”
The news was welcomed by businesses, especially those that relied on workers to relocate to city centres, as well as in hospitality and tourism. But some said officials needed to give more details about their plans to tackle the coronavirus in the long term. Johnson’s spokesman said the government would publish such a plan “soon”.
“There is a critical need now for greater consistency in how we live with the virus over the long term. The swinging back and forth between restrictions and normality has been harmful,” said Matthew Fell, chief policy director of the Confederation of British Industry.
Scotland and Wales, which have set their own public health rules, have also announced similar easing of restrictions.
The UK has the second-worst pandemic in Europe after Russia, with more than 153,000 confirmed virus-related deaths.
Read also: COVID: Masks not recommended for children below 5 years, says Health Ministry
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