Health secretary Sajid Javid ‘cautiously optimistic’ that UK’s restrictions will ease next week
Health secretary Sajid Javid has said he is “cautiously optimistic” that the UK’s coronavirus restrictions will be eased from next week.
The Tory frontbencher told the Commons on Tuesday that the measures, imposed last year to combat the spread of the Omicron variant, will not be in force “a day longer than they are absolutely necessary”.
The comment comes amid a sharp decline in UK Covid-19 cases , with the World Health Organisation predicting that the end of Britain’s pandemic is “not far away”.
However, the global health body has warned that there will be “more variations and mutations” and “further challenges” ahead.
Meanwhile, Professor Andrew Hayward, an epidemiologist who advises the UK government on science, has expressed hope that future variants will be “less severe”, if more transmissible like Omicron.
On the other side of the world, Australia has recorded its deadliest day since the start of the pandemic, with 74 deaths recorded nationwide in the last 24 hours.
