UK to end legal self-isolation after positive COVID test from Feb. 24

‘It is time we got our confidence back, rely on sense of responsibility to each other,’ UK Prime Minister

LONDON:

The legal requirement of self-isolation after a positive COVID-19 test will be scrapped in the UK from Thursday, Feb. 24, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on Monday.

In a statement in the House of Commons, Johnson laid out the government’s “living with COVID” strategy and said: “It is time we got our confidence back [and] rely on sense of responsibility to each other.”

He told the lawmakers that the government can now move from restrictions to "personal responsibility", thanks to the effective vaccine program, confirming all domestic restrictions will be removed.

He said the "pandemic is not over" but we have "passed the peak" of the omicron wave and vaccines and treatments will form the "first line of defence" going forward.

Johnson said: “Restrictions pose a heavy toll on our economy, our society, our mental well-being and all the life chances of our children and we do not have to pay the price any longer.

“We have a population that is protected by the biggest vaccination programme in our history. We have the advantage of the treatments and the scientific understanding of this virus and we have the capabilities to respond rapidly to any resurgence or new variants.”

He said: “We chose to compel people to be considerate to others. We can rely on that sense of responsibility towards one another by providing practical advice in the knowledge that people will follow it to avoid infecting loved ones.”

Johnson also underlined that COVID-19 will not simply disappear and it would not be the right approach to wait until the virus has been eradicated before removing restrictions.

He added that free testing will end on April 1 but the NHS app will continue to allow people to indicate their vaccination status for travel.