Covid rules explained as Boris Johnson set to abandon restrictions despite warnings

Boris Johnson is set to announce a “living with Covid” plan which will see rules such as self-isolation scrapped despite warnings from experts.

Downing Street said the prime minister intends to revoke all pandemic regulations that restrict public freedoms in England when he lays out his vision for the future on Monday.

The legal duty to self-isolate for those who test positive for coronavirus and their close contacts will be one of the measures lifted by the end of next week.

There are also reports the provision of free lateral flow and PCR tests could end, but this has not yet been confirmed.

Mr Johnson is expected to tell MPs upon their return from parliament’s February recess that the vaccine programme, testing and new treatments can be relied upon to keep the public safe.

Local authorities will be required to manage outbreaks with pre-existing public health powers, as they would with other diseases.

It comes after ministers said new variants of the virus are expected to follow a similar pattern to Omicron in being more mild than early Covid-19 mutations.

Downing Street said pharmaceutical interventions will “continue to be our first line of defence”, with the vaccine programme remaining “open to anyone who has not yet come forward”.

Self-isolation

The rule that said people who test positive for Covid must isolate for five days (previously cut from 10 and seven days) had been due to expire on 24 March.

But under the new timetable, plans for “living with the virus” are to be unveiled on Monday 21 February, when self-isolation requirements are expected to be scrapped.

The move will see Covid-19 treated in a similar way to other infectious diseases such as flu, with people only encouraged to stay at home if they were ill.

Free lateral flow and PCR tests:

Free lab tests for most people with Covid symptoms are poised to end in England from as early as next month.

Boris Johnson will announce on Monday whether charges will be introduced for PCR tests - as well as for rapid tests - except for extremely vulnerable patients and those in hospitals and care homes.

The government’s winter plan in September announced the intention to scrap free lateral flow tests at some point – but free PCR tests are now also in the government’s sights.

Although the end to free tests could be announced on Monday, it is unlikely to actually come into effect this week.

It is not clear how much lateral flow and PCR tests will cost. In the rest of Europe, PCR tests can cost more than £30 each, while some in the US are double that price.

Travel rules

It is unclear whether travel rules, such as the passenger locator form, will also disappear.

Passenger locator forms could be simplified further or even scrapped, according to the Mirror.

But travel testing is more likely to stay for unvaccinated people entering the UK for the foreseeable future.

National lockdowns

Powers to order national lockdowns will end and it will instead be up to local authorities to manage outbreaks.

Europe minister James Cleverly said councils will take on the role when Boris Johnson announces the lifting of restrictions, which he is expected to do on Monday.

Self-isolation payment

Under the current rules, people on lower incomes legally obliged to self-isolate are eligible for a £500 payment.

But it is not known if this will stay in place once England moves to the voluntary regime.

According to the Daily Mail, the issue of passenger locator forms, which travellers must fill out before returning to the UK, will not be addressed until spring.

The prime minister is also not expected to make any announcement about whether hospitals will be allowed to continue to ban visits to patients, with the decision being left to individual hospital trusts.

Most of England’s Covid restrictions were dropped in January, including mandatory face masks –although these are still required on public transport in London and are recommended in many other settings.

Vaccine passports were also scrapped in January, along with advice to work from home.

The self-isolation period was also cut from 10 days to seven on 22 December.

Health policy is devolved across UK nations, with restrictions varying in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Measures have tended to be similar over time in each country, but England has usually eased rules first.

In Scotland, face coverings are compulsory on public transport and most indoor spaces, including shops and secondary schools.

Covid certification, showing proof of vaccination status or a recent negative test, are needed for venues such as nightclubs.

A two-metre social distancing rule also remains in healthcare settings such as hospitals, GP surgeries and dentists.

Work from home advice has ended, although the government is keen for some staff to continue working remotely.

Restrictions are also being eased in Wales, but some measures remain in place including compulsory face coverings in schools, on public transport, and in shops and hospitals.

In Northern Ireland, many restrictions have already been lifted - such as Covid certificates for nightclubs and mandatory face coverings - and legal regulations are expected to be replaced by guidance.

The chair of the Council of the British Medical Association has said the government should only end self-isolation when case rates are falling,

Dr Chaand Nagpaul told BBC News: “You have at the moment more people dying, more people in the hospital, than you had before plan B was introduced.

“It seems a rather odd decision to make. Secondly, we need to see case rates fall down even more remembering that people aren’t being restricted at the moment in any severe way at all – people are living normally.”

Dr Mike Tildesley, from the University of Warwick and a member of the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Modelling group (Spi-M), said he too was concerned it is too early for the scrapping of self-isolation rules and free Covid-19 testing expected this week.

He told Times Radio that at some point the restrictions would have to be eased, but that “the concern now is that we still have relatively high cases”.

Mr Tildesley said one of his biggest concerns was support for people in low-income jobs to isolate and that there was a “real concern” that getting rid of the rules would lead to more infections in workplaces.

NHS leaders issued a warning over the plan to scrap free Covid tests and self-isolation rules.

In an NHS Confederation poll of more than 300 senior staff in England, 77 per cent strongly disagreed or disagreed with the plan to stop free access to Covid tests for the public.

An NHS frontline consultant, meanwhile, said it “feels like the pandemic is over” as he backed ending legal self-isolation requirements – although he warned scrapping free Covid tests now would be “premature”.

Dr Richard Cree, who works in intensive care at Middlesbrough’s James Cook University Hospital, said it was “obvious” the virus has become “far less dangerous”.

Writing in his nomoresurgeons.com blog, the consultant supported the axing self-isolation requirements, adding that admissions to intensive care units were waning and the Omicron variant of the virus was milder.

Speaking ahead of outlining his plan, the prime minister said: “Covid will not suddenly disappear, and we need to learn to live with this virus and continue to protect ourselves without restricting our freedoms.

“We’ve built up strong protections against this virus over the past two years through the vaccine rollouts, tests, new treatments, and the best scientific understanding of what this virus can do.

“Thanks to our successful vaccination programme and the sheer magnitude of people who have come forward to be jabbed, we are now in a position to set out our plan for living with Covid this week.”