Thursday is Freedom Day! Boris Johnson prepares to lift lockdown restrictions once and for all next week in his ‘Living with Covid Plan’
- PM will also announce a timetable to end free lateral flow and PCR Covid tests
- However free tests will likely remain available for more vulnerable or the elderly
- But unpopular passenger locator forms for travellers to stay until at least spring
Boris Johnson is set to call time tomorrow on the era of national lockdowns and Covid restrictions as he announces that self-isolation rules are to end this week for England.
The Prime Minister is poised to unveil his ‘Living with Covid Plan’, with Thursday earmarked as Freedom Day from virus-related rules.
He is also set to announce a timetable to end free lateral flow and PCR tests – which cost the taxpayer £2 billion a week.
In a compromise between the Treasury and Department of Health, free tests are still likely to be available for more vulnerable and older age groups.
But to the anger of many Tory MPs, Mr Johnson is not expected this week to cut the red tape which bedevils UK citizens travelling abroad.
Sources say the issue of passenger locator forms, which travellers have to fill in before they return to the UK, will be addressed later in the spring.
He is also not expected to ease concerns that hospitals will still limit visits to patients, with Government sources saying that is a matter for individual hospital trusts.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson (pictured) is poised to unveil his ‘Living with Covid Plan’, with Thursday earmarked as Freedom Day from virus-related rules
In future, the emphasis would be on people to show ‘personal responsibility’ by staying at home if they have Covid – just as they would if they had flu. (Pictured: Commuters, some wearing masks, arrive at Waterloo train station in London)
The Freedom Day plans come despite warnings from his scientific advisers that Covid cases could soar if the self- isolation rules are ditched.
But Government sources stressed that although lockdowns were necessary to save lives, the restrictions had also taken ‘a significant toll’.
In future, the emphasis would be on people to show ‘personal responsibility’ by staying at home if they have Covid – just as they would if they had flu.
Mr Johnson yesterday admitted that ‘Covid will not suddenly disappear’, but added: ‘We need to learn to live with this virus and continue to protect ourselves without restricting our freedoms.’
He is set to confirm that the legal duty introduced in 2020 requiring self-isolation for people who test positive will expire later this week.
Powers to order national lockdowns will also end, with sources saying it would instead be up to local authorities to manage outbreaks.
The PM is also expected to leave open the prospect that further Covid jabs could be given, saying he will be guided by expert vaccines body the JCVI .
No 10 sources stressed testing ‘surveillance systems and contingency measures’ would be retained for use if required.
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