In a statement in the House of Commons, Prime Minister Boris Johnson outlined the UK Government’s plan for living with COVID-19.
The Prime Minister said that the UK Government will continue to work closely with the Devolved Administrations, but the ongoing approach for England will be around four principles, including:
- The removal of all domestic restrictions in law.
- From Thursday, 24 February:
- The legal requirement to self-isolate following a positive test will end. Self-isolation support payments will also end. COVID provisions for Statutory Sick Pay will still be able to be claimed for a further month.
- Routine contact tracing will end. Fully vaccinated close contacts and those under 18 will no longer be asked to test daily for seven days.
- The legal requirement for close contacts who are not fully vaccinated to self-isolate will be removed.
- Until 1 April, people who test positive will still be advised to stay at home. After April 1 people with Covid-19 symptoms will be advised to exercise personal responsibility.
- From 1 April:
- Free symptomatic and asymptomatic testing for the general public will end.
- The UK Government will no longer recommend the use of voluntary COVID19-status certification, although the NHS app will continue to allow people to indicate their vaccination status for international travel.
- Continuing to protect the most vulnerable with targeted vaccines and treatments.
- Maintaining resilience: ongoing surveillance, contingency planning and the ability to reintroduce key capabilities such as mass vaccination and testing in an emergency
- Securing innovations and opportunities from the COVID-19 response, including investment in life sciences.
A copy of the full plan is available here.