UK’s Johnson Announces End to All COVID-19 Restrictions in England

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson leaves from 10 Downing Street in central London on Feb. 21, 2022. (Tolga Akmen /AFP via Getty Images)

All COVID-19 restrictions in England will be scrapped later this week, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced.

Announcing his plan for “living with COVID” in the House of Commons on Feb. 21, Johnson said the legal requirement for those who test positive for the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus to self-isolate will be dropped on Feb. 24, and free universal testing will end on April 1.

Johnson warned that the “pandemic is not over,” with Queen Elizabeth II testing positive over the weekend serving as a “reminder this virus has not gone away.”

However, he said it’s time to “move from government restrictions to personal responsibility,” with “sufficient levels of immunity to complete the transition” from laws to relying on vaccines and treatments.

“COVID will not suddenly disappear, so those who would wait for a total end to this war before lifting the remaining regulations would be restricting the liberties of the British people for a long time to come,” Johnson said. “This government does not believe that is right or necessary. Restrictions pose a heavy toll on our economy, our society, our mental well-being, and on the life chances of our children, and we do not need to pay that cost any longer.”

He said it’s time “we got our confidence back.”

“We don’t need laws to compel people to be considerate to others,“ Johnson said. ”We can rely on that sense of responsibility towards one another. So let us learn to live with this virus and continue protecting ourselves and others without restricting our freedoms.”

In his statement, Johnson highlighted the immense cost of the UK’s COVID-19 testing programme, revealing that the test, trace, and isolation budget in 2020 and 2021 exceeded the entire budget of the Home Office.

“We must now scale this back,” he said.

Along with the requirement for self-isolation, routine contact tracing will also end on Feb. 24, as will self-isolation payments and the legal obligation for individuals to tell their employers about their requirement to isolate. Changes to statutory sick pay and employment support allowance designed to help people through the pandemic will end on March 24.

The use of voluntary COVID-19 status certification will no longer be recommended starting on April 1, though the National Health Service’s COVID-19 app will continue to allow people to indicate their vaccination status for international travel.

People aged 75 and older, the immunosuppressed, and those living in care homes will be offered another COVID-19 booster vaccine dose this spring under the plans.

PA Media contributed to this report.