Covid self-isolation rules set to be scrapped by the end of next week

Downing Street said Boris Johnson intends to repeal all pandemic regulations that restrict public freedoms in England when he lays out his vision for the future on Monday.

Mr Johnson is expected to tell MPs upon their return from parliament’s February recess that the vaccine programme, testing and new treatments can be relied upon to keep the public safe.

It comes after ministers said new variants of the virus are expected to follow a similar pattern to Omicron in being more mild than early Covid-19 mutations.

Speaking ahead of outlining his plan, the PM said: ‘Covid will not suddenly disappear, and we need to learn to live with this virus and continue to protect ourselves without restricting our freedoms.

‘We’ve built up strong protections against this virus over the past two years through the vaccine rollouts, tests, new treatments, and the best scientific understanding of what this virus can do.

‘Thanks to our successful vaccination programme and the sheer magnitude of people who have come forward to be jabbed, we are now in a position to set out our plan for living with Covid this week.’

By the end of the week, self-isolation regulations will be scrapped for those who test positive and their close contacts, officials said.

Local authorities will be required to manage outbreaks with pre-existing public health powers, as they would with other diseases.

Downing Street said pharmaceutical interventions will ‘continue to be our first line of defence’, with the vaccine programme remaining ‘open to anyone who has not yet come forward’.

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With 85 per cent of the UK’s population double-vaccinated, and 38m booster jabs administered, No 10 said it had concluded ‘government intervention in people’s lives can now finally end’.

However, No 10 appeared to keep the door open to state-funded infection sampling remaining in place, following reports that Covid studies could be withdrawn as part of the plan.

Responding to the prime minister’s future blueprint for dealing with Covid, Labour said people should not be asked to pay for coronavirus tests.

The comments come after armed forces minister James Heappey suggested on Thursday that Mr Johnson was likely to announce an end to free lateral flow tests as he called on the public to ‘worry less about the need to have tested ourselves’.

Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said: ‘Boris Johnson is declaring victory before the war is over, in an attempt to distract from the police knocking at his door.

‘Labour doesn’t want to see restrictions in place any longer than they need to be.

‘The government should publish the evidence behind this decision, so the public can have faith that it is being made in the national interest.

‘Now is not the time to start charging for tests or weaken sick pay, when people are still being asked to behave responsibly.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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