The Prime Minister today announced the Government's long-term plan to 'live with Covid' in England.
He ended all self-isolation requirements, even for people who have tested positive for the virus, from Thursday.
He also confirmed the date free lateral flow and PCR tests will be axed.
Go here for the very latest breaking news updates from across the North East
The £500 self-isolation payment for low-income workers and legal powers for councils are also both being scrapped.
Mr Johnson made a statement in the House of Commons on Monday evening, followed by a Downing Street press conference at 7pm.
The Prime Minister spoke alongside Sir Patrick Vallance, the chief scientific officer, and Professor Sir Chris Whitty, England’s chief medical officer.
Here are all the main takeaways from the press conference...
PM -"Today is not the day we can declare victory over Covid"
Boris Johnson described the nation's development of vaccines as possibly the "greatest national effort" in peacetime history.
The PM earlier announced to the nation the plans for removing the legal requirement to self isolate if testing positive for Covid.
He added it is not the day to declare victory- but it is the day to restore "our liberties in full."
He said: "Today is not the day we can declare victory over Covid because this virus is not going away.
"But it is the day when all the efforts of the last two years finally enable us to protect ourselves whilst restoring our liberties in full.
"After two of the darkest, grimmest years in our peacetime history I do believe this is a moment of pride for our nation and a source of hope for all that we can achieve in the years to come."
Vallance- Covid will continue to evolve over next couple of years
The Government’s chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance has said Covid will continue to evolve over the next couple of years.
He told a Downing Street news conference that there was no guarantee that future variants would be less severe.
He said it was essential to maintain a virus surveillance system, the capacity to “ramp up” measures again quickly and to protect the vulnerable.
“This pandemic is not over. The virus is continuing to evolve. It will continue to do so quite fast probably for the next couple of years,” he said.
“There is no guarantee that the next variant is as reduced severity as Omicron. As it evolves what it is trying to do is to transmit more readily.
“The change in severity is a random by-product. We expect there to be further variants and they could be more severe.”
Whitty- Omicron rates 'still high', although rates are coming down
England’s chief medical officer Professor Sir Chris Whitty said the Omicron wave is “still high”, adding: “The rates are coming down but this is still a very common infection.”
He said new variants are expected, telling the press conference: “Some of those new variants will just disappear, but some of them will cause us significant problems and they could be either more vaccine escaping but as severe as Omicron, but the net effect would be actually more people end up in hospital because a lot of our protection is from vaccination, or it could be more intrinsically severe, because Omicron came from a much earlier variant.”
Prof Whitty said we “could certainly end up with something which is more likely to lead to hospitalisations than Omicron”, adding that winters are expected to be “tricky” even in the absence of significant new variants due to the combination of Covid, flu and other respiratory problems.
Whitty- Next Covid variant could yet be worse than Omicron
England's chief medical officer Chris Whitty says the country could yet face another Covid variant worse than Omicron.
He added the number of people with the deadly variant is still "very high" - and he did not rule out worse to come.
Prof Whitty said: "We could certainly end up with something that is more likely to lead to hospitalisations than Omicron."
"[The number of people with omicron] would have been higher if people had not been careful not to transfer it to others.
"This would have been a lot worse."
Despite the removal of restrictions from Thursday he said Public Health advice is people with Covid should still self-isolate.
Whitty- Expected that coming winters will be difficult
Professor Whitty says the removal of restrictions is not a "sudden step" but the gradual removal back to normality.
But he added next winter could again cause issues for the NHS.
He said: "As the good news is things are going down as we head into spring, we do have to accept the respiratory season next winter and subsequent winters is likely to combine Covid, flu and all the other respiratory problems.
Whitty- Those with Covid-19 'should still isolate'
Professor Sir Chris Whitty said people should still isolate if they have Covid-19.
“As we look at the next weeks, we still have high rates of Omicron and I would urge people in terms of public health advice, and this is very much the Government’s position, that people should still if they have Covid try to prevent other people getting it and that means self-isolating.
“So, that is the public health advice. It would have been the public health advice, and will be the public health advice, for multiple other diseases,” he said, describing it as “standard public health advice for a significant and highly transmissible infection”.
Prof Whitty said maximising ventilation, hand washing and using face masks in enclosed spaces with large numbers of people when there are significant numbers of cases remain important.
PM denies removal of free tests will worsen cost of living crisis
The Prime Minister rejected any assertion the removal of free tests will add to people's worries with the looming cost of living crisis.
He said: "This change in the testing regime won't come through for a few weeks to come, by which time we hope and expect the incidence will have further declined.
"I hope that the impact on people will be minimal."
Vallance- 'Celebrate when the sun's shining, but take an umbrella with you'
Discussing the potential impact of the end of the measures, Sir Patrick said the next steps will create an important safety net for the next deadly variant.
Adding an analogy from an American colleague, he said: "You can celebrate when the sun's shining, but take an umbrella with you, I think that's really the message."
The PM added: "That's an important message."
For the latest local news in your area direct to your inbox every day, go here to sign up to our free newsletter
