Now let’s learn to live with virus
time to start treating Covid like endemic illnesses such as flu. We will need to manage living with coronavirus as we emerge from this pandemic. We are entering into that phase of endemicity, and it’s only right that we adjust accordingly.’
Health Secretary Sajid Javid said the UK was already the freest major economy in the world but added: ‘We must never lose sight of the fact that the curbs we imposed on people’s freedoms are not normal and not without cost.
‘They are a unique response to an unprecedented pandemic and must be removed at the earliest opportunity as we learn to live with Covid.’
The timing of the announcement, which came at the last Prime Minister’s Questions before the parliamentary recess, was designed to cheer up restive Conservative MPs, as well as boost the economy.
The move caught government scientists and health experts by surprise, with some saying the move to lift restrictions was premature. It came as:
■ Daily coronavirus cases fell to 68,215 – down from a peak of almost 220,000 at the start of last month;
■ Health minister Gillian Keegan issued a grovelling apology for continuing with a face-to-face meeting with members of the
‘Indefensible to lock down again’
public after testing positive for the virus;
■ Downing Street encouraged Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to also drop their curbs and let the UK reopen as one;
■ Ministers debated ending free Covid tests as soon as next month;
■ It emerged that a decision on whether Covid vaccines should be given to children aged five to 11 is expected within days.
The Government’s ‘living with Covid’ strategy – to be released on February 21 – will set out plans for dealing with future waves, including dangerous new variants.
Tory MPs last night insisted that lockdowns should never be deployed again. ‘I am glad to see the emphasis on learning to live with Covid,’ said Bob Seely, who represents the Isle of Wight.
‘We now need a grown-up and sensible approach setting out how we will protect the vulnerable in future without the enormous cost of locking down the rest of society. We know Covid may return this autumn or winter, but it would be indefensible to lock down again.’
David Jones, a former Cabinet minister, welcomed the ‘very positive’ news, adding: ‘The PM deserves credit for this. We have locked down for too long and we now need a commitment that we will not lock down again, save for in the most exceptional of circumstances.’
The main change will be an end to mandatory self-isolation for those who test positive for the virus. The PM’s spokesman said guidance would still advise people to stay at home if they were ill. ‘In the same way that we wouldn’t recommend someone with flu go to work, we would never recommend anyone goes to work when they have an infectious disease,’ he said.
Emergency measures giving councils power to impose local lockdowns are set to be ditched.
The passenger locator form will also go. But ministers are undecided on whether to retain mandatory quarantine for unvaccinated travellers returning from abroad. ‘That’s the one thing that might stay,’ a source said.
Funding for free tests continues until the end of March. Sources said they might remain free for some groups, such as NHS staff, or in care homes.
Denmark lifted its legal restrictions earlier this month but no major global economy has yet done so. The number of severely ill Covid patients is at the lowest level in 18 months with just 430 virus patients now on ventilators.
And there are 13,545 patients on wards with Covid, compared with 40,000 this time last year.
Professor Peter Openshaw, who sits on a sub-group of the Sage scientific advisory committee, questioned Mr Johnson’s move.
‘It would be wholly wrong to say the pandemic was in any way over,’ he told the BBC’s World at One.
‘We don’t know what’s around the corner, there could be another variant, perhaps based on Delta or something else with higher pathogenicity, which could come back to bite us any time. I’m pretty sure that next winter we’re going to see it back.’
Chris Hopson of NHS providers, which represents hospitals, said: ‘As we head out of a pandemic toward the virus being endemic, we will need to learn to live with Covid.
‘However, it is important to remember that Covid has not gone away. As we saw with the sudden strike of the Omicron wave, there is a significant risk of further strains and surges and the impact of long Covid also remains unclear.’
Professor Paul Hunter of the University of East Anglia said: ‘The concern for me remains our more vulnerable people, especially those who for medical reasons may not have responded as well to the vaccine as we would have wished. There need to be robust procedures in place to ensure infections in this group are diagnosed early and antivirals are provided within hours of any positive result.’
Gemma Peters of Blood Cancer UK described the plans as ‘reckless’. She said: ‘We’re concerned the Government has announced plans to bring forward the scrapping of isolation rules in England and know how much anxiety and anger it will cause for people in our community.’
But ex-minister Lord Frost, who quit the Cabinet over Plan B restrictions in December, said the move was welcome and called for no more ‘coercive lockdowns ever again’.
LONDON Mayor Sadiq Khan, who has responsibility for the Metropolitan Police, has threatened to axe Dame Cressida Dick following a string of scandals.
After a police officer murdered Sarah everard and revelations Scotland Yard is rife with racism, misogyny and bullying, Mr Khan (whose chief concern is to duck blame when things go wrong) has put the commissioner on notice.
tackling this cesspit ought to be her priority. How absurd, then, that the Met is more obsessed with minor potential transgressions at No10.
the decision not to investigate a Christmas quiz in Downing Street is being reviewed. the new so-called evidence? A picture of Mr Johnson standing near a packet of crisps and a bottle of cheap fizz.
Police will question 50 people over lockdown parties in Whitehall. And detectives are looking at whether the PM’s Wallpapergate saga involved bribery. Not even Dixon of Dock Green would waste his time. But egged on by Labour, detectives are threatening to boot down No10’s door.
No one condones rule-flouting. But is a little perspective too much to ask for?