{"id":1326166,"date":"2022-02-22T09:38:13","date_gmt":"2022-02-22T14:38:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1326166"},"modified":"2022-02-22T09:38:18","modified_gmt":"2022-02-22T14:38:18","slug":"boris-johnson-scraps-remaining-covid-rules-in-england","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/boris-johnson-scraps-remaining-covid-rules-in-england\/","title":{"rendered":"Boris Johnson Scraps Remaining Covid Rules in England"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fboris-johnson-scraps-remaining-covid-rules-in-england%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1326166&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/GettyImages-1238674554-e1645532129313-640x335-1.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p class=\"subheading\">LONDON (AP) \u2013 British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is scrapping the last domestic coronavirus restrictions in England, including the requirement for people with COVID-19 to self-isolate, even as he acknowledged Monday the potential for new and more deadly variants of the virus.<\/p>\n<p>Johnson told lawmakers in the House of Commons that the country was \u201cmoving from government restrictions to personal responsibility\u201d as part of a plan for treating COVID-19 like other transmissible illnesses such as flu.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p>He said it marked an end to \u201ctwo of the darkest, grimmest years in our peacetime history.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cToday is not the day we can declare victory over COVID, because this virus is not going away,\u201d Johnson said at a televised news conference. \u201cBut it is the day when all the efforts of the last two years finally enabled us to protect ourselves whilst restoring our liberties in full.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Johnson confirmed that mandatory self-isolation for people with COVID-19 will end starting Thursday and the routine tracing of infected people\u00b4s contacts will stop. People will still be advised to stay home if they are sick \u2013 but will no longer get extra financial support.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p>Monday\u00b4s announcement applies only to England, which is home to 56 million of the U.K.\u00b4s 67 million people. It leaves England with fewer restrictions than most other European countries, with the exception of Denmark.<\/p>\n<p>Many people in England who think they have COVID-19 may now never know for sure. Starting April 1, lab-confirmed PCR tests for the virus will be available free only to older people and the immune-compromised. The government will also stop offering the public free rapid virus tests, though they will be available for purchase.<\/p>\n<p>Yet the government stressed that the pandemic isn\u2019t over and the virus could still spring nasty surprises. Johnson said scientists were \u201ccertain there will be new variants and it is very possible they will be worse than omicron,\u201d the currently dominant strain.<\/p>\n<p>Johnson said the fact that Queen Elizabeth II tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday was a reminder that this virus was still prevalent. Buckingham Palace said the 95-year-old monarch was experiencing mild, cold-like symptoms.<\/p>\n<p>The government plan foresees keeping the virus in check with vaccines and treatments. Everyone 75 and older will be offered a fourth vaccine dose, along with those 12 and up who have conditions that make them vulnerable to severe disease.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B3\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p>Some scientists said removing all restrictions was a risky move that could bring a surge in infections and weaken the country\u00b4s defenses against more virulent future strains.<\/p>\n<p>The government insisted it would retain a strong surveillance system, including the Infection Survey conducted by the Office for National Statistics, which is considered invaluable because it tests people whether or not they have symptoms. It said it also will keep the ability to ramp up testing if needed.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p>Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer for England, said prevalence of the virus was still \u201cvery high\u201d and urged people to continue to self-isolate if they had COVID-19.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople should still, if they have COVID, try to prevent other people getting it, and that means self-isolating,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The leader of the opposition Labour Party, Keir Starmer, said the government\u2019s \u201chalf-baked\u201d approach would leave Britain vulnerable.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B4\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p>\u201c\u00b4Ignorance is bliss\u00b4 is not a responsible approach to a deadly virus,\u201d Starmer said.<\/p>\n<p>Johnson\u00b4s Conservative government lifted most virus restrictions in January, scrapping vaccine passports for venues and ending mask mandates in most settings apart from hospitals in England. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, which set their own public health rules, also have opened up, although more slowly.<\/p>\n<p>A combination of high vaccination rates in the U.K. and the milder omicron variant meant that easing restrictions last month didn\u00b4t lead to a surge in hospitalizations and deaths. Both are falling, though the U.K. still has Europe\u00b4s highest coronavirus toll after Russia, with more than 161,000 recorded deaths.<\/p>\n<p>In Britain, 85% of people age 12 and up have had two vaccine doses and almost two-thirds have had a third booster shot.<\/p>\n<p>Monday\u2019s announcement was cheered by many Conservative Party lawmakers, who argue that the restrictions were inefficient and disproportionate. It could \u2013 and critics say was designed to \u2013 shore up Johnson\u00b4s position among party lawmakers, who have been mulling an attempt to oust him over scandals including lockdown-breaching government parties during the pandemic.<\/p>\n<p>But some scientists expressed alarm, saying that ending support for people to test and isolate would hit poor people the hardest.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cToday\u00b4s announcement is not a plan for living with COVID, it is a plan for reducing spending on testing and cutting support for people who have or may have COVID,\u201d said Trish Greenhalgh, professor of primary care health services at the University of Oxford.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLearning to live with COVID does not mean pretending it isn\u00b4t highly prevalent or pretending the virus is no longer dangerous,\u201d she noted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LONDON (AP) \u2013 British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is scrapping the last domestic coronavirus restrictions in England, including the requirement for people with COVID-19 to self-isolate, even as he acknowledged &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1326166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1326166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1326166"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1326166\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1326166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1326166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1326166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}