And with that, Boris Johnson ended all remaining pandemic measures in England. Those who test positive for Covid will no longer have to isolate by law from this Thursday – and from April will not even be advised to stay at home if infected. The £500 self-isolation payment for some people on lower incomes will end. Meanwhile, free testing for the vast majority of the public will end from 1 April, apart from some symptomatic clinically vulnerable and very elderly people. It will soon be entirely legal to test positive – if you’ve even got that far – for coronavirus and then wander into a packed pub.
This was less a plan to “live with coronavirus”, and more to simply ignore it. Ministers offered no epidemiological evidence for pulling Covid protections this winter, with experts warning it could cause a rapid rise in the virus.
