Boris Johnson declared the end of coronavirus restrictions today.
“We have to learn to live with the virus.”
PM Johnson said work based on guidance, the requirement to wear face masks and the use of Covid passports in some settings would be dropped.
He said that more than 90 per cent of people over 60 across the UK already had booster shots to protect them, and scientists believe the Omicron wave has peaked.
He said the government had taken a “different path” for much of Europe and that “data shows that, time and time again, this government has made the most difficult decisions”.
People will no longer be instructed to work from home, and as of Thursday of next week, when the Plan B measures expire, mandatory Covid certification will end, Johnson said.
The government will also no longer require the use of face masks from next Thursday and they will be discarded in classrooms from this Thursday.
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Johnson said: “As of now, the government is no longer asking people to work from home.”
The news comes as Covid infection levels are falling across most of the UK for the first time since early December.
The changes are as follows:
*WFH guidance has dropped as of today
*Covid passports are no longer needed as of next Thursday
- Face masks in schools dropped tomorrow
- Face masks in the community at large have dropped starting next Thursday. Johnson said the government will set out its “long-term strategy for living with Covid-19”, adding: “Explaining how we hope and intend to protect our freedom and avoid restrictions in the future, relying on medical advances, especially vaccines that have already saved so many lives.
“But to make this possible, we must all remain cautious during these final winter weeks. Boris Johnson advised people to continue washing their hands, letting in fresh air, testing and self-isolating if positive.
The prime minister continued: “This week, the World Health Organization said that while the global situation remains challenging, the UK could begin to see light at the end of the tunnel. This is not an accident of history.
“Faced with the country’s biggest challenge since World War II and the worst pandemic since 1918, any government would get some things wrong – but this administration got the big things right.”
