The Prime Minister has today set out our plans to end the legal restrictions that have been in place to protect us throughout the pandemic.
This will start with the legal requirement to self-isolate following a positive test, which will end from Thursday 24 February. People who test positive will instead be advised to stay home for 5 days and avoid contact with others. This advice will remain in place until 1 April.
On Thursday, all contact tracing will also end.
From 1 April, the following will apply:
- People will be expected to exercise personal responsibility and be considerate of others – much like they would if they were suffering with the flu.
- Free symptomatic and asymptomatic testing will end for the general public. Routes will remain in place for the elderly and clinically vulnerable to receive free, symptomatic testing.
- The government will no longer recommend the use of voluntary Covid-status certification. However, the NHS app will allow for certification so that people who intend to travel overseas can meet international testing requirements.
- The government will also expire all temporary provisions of the Coronavirus Act – the piece of legislation underpinning the many necessary changes the government had to make to respond to the disruption caused by COVID-19.
We are in this position thanks to our incredible vaccine rollout which has seen nearly 140 million doses given across the UK in total.
You can read the full announcement here.