The UK Government has announced major changes to Covid testing and isolation rules in England.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson told MPs in the House of Commons it was the UKs vaccination programme success which had allowed restrictions to be eased and said Covid will not "suddenly disappear". He said his government did not believe it was right to restrict people's liberty for longer than necessary.
"We have a population that is protected," he told the Commons. "While the pandemic is not over, we have passed the peak of the Omicron variant," he said saying there is "sufficient levels of immunity to complete the transition from protecting people with government interventions to relying on vaccines and treatments as our first line of defence".
He said testing will be "much less valuable".
The changes apply to England only. WalesOnline has asked the Welsh Government for an interview to explain its position in light of the changes, but some of these decisions made by the UK Government will impact Wales. The Prime Minister said he will work with the devolved governments, but the UK Government has said no extra money will be given to the Welsh Government to continue providing free testing.
The UK Government say it is not yet saying the pandemic is endemic and there could still be other significant mutations.
The plan has been announced today and published as part of a strategy called "Living with Covid".
From Monday, February 21
The guidance for staff and students in most education and childcare settings to take twice-weekly testing, even if they have no symptoms is ending immediately.
From Thursday, February 24
All remaining legal restrictions are being made guidance.
From one minute past midnight on Thursday, the legal requirements to self-isolate will be removed. It means adults and children who test positive will be advised to stay at home but it is not a legal requirement.
If a positive case has met vaccinated contacts, they will no longer be asked to test for seven days. Nor will anyone a positive case has met who is under 18. Close contacts who are not vaccinated will not be asked to self-isolate.
Routine contact tracing will end.
The UK Government's £500 self-isolation payment will also come to an end, as will the legal obligation for people to tell employers when they have to self-isolate. Covid provisions for statutory sick pay will be able to claimed for another month.
Councils will also lose the ability to close areas based on a raised public health risk.
From Friday, April 1
Until April 1, anyone who tests positive will be advised to stay at home but after that, people with Covid symptoms will be asked to "exercise personal responsibility".
The Prime Minister said the test and trace budget exceeded the Home Office's entire budget in 2020-21 and cost another £15.7bn in this financial year and £2bn in January alone.
Free universal testing for anyone with or without symptoms will end for general public in England.
Only a small group will be able to get tests due to testing positive, that will be the most vulnerable groups and decided by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) but is likely to be only the very oldest and immunosuppressed. The Prime Minister said that would detailed further in March. Employers will be able to supply tests to employees, but that will be up to them. NHS and care home workers will not get testing if they are asymptomatic. There will be symptomatic testing in the NHS for patients and some asymptomatic testing if necessary. In social care, there will be regular asymptomatic testing for residents.
Once there's no longer a universal free offer, people will be able to buy them privately with a ballpark figure being quoted of around £20 for a packet of six tests.
People won't have to use the voluntary "Covid status certification" but the NHS app will remain for international travel.
There will be some testing as part of a "surveillance" programme. The UK Government say that laboratory capacity will be retained so that if there is another surge of cases, they can resume testing quickly. The number of test centres in England is already being reduced, and that will continue.
From this date, the Coronavirus Act's temporary provisions will be ended.
