Boris Johnson To Set Out England’s Final COVID-19 Lockdown Easing
Prime Minister Boris Johnson is preparing to detail the final step of England’s roadmap out of lockdown.
He is expected to announce the next steps on social distancing, face coverings and working from home, as well as on care home visits, during a No 10 news conference on Monday.
Step four of the roadmap was delayed last month to no earlier than 19 July.
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Mr Johnson said as we “learn to live with this virus, we must… exercise judgement when going about our lives”.
Labour’s shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth urged the government to confirm “what level of mortality and cases of long Covid” it considers acceptable.
“Letting cases rise with no action means further pressure on the NHS, more sickness, disruption to education – and risks a new variant emerging with a selection advantage,” he warned.
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are in charge of their own coronavirus rules, and the Scottish government has suggested it may retain some basic measures at its next review in August.
Praising the successful vaccine rollout, Mr Johnson said Monday’s update would “set out how we can restore people’s freedoms when we reach step four”.
“But I must stress that the pandemic is not over and that cases will continue to rise over the coming weeks,” he added.
Downing Street said step four would go ahead on 19 July only if the government’s “four tests” for easing curbs had been met.
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The verdict on those tests – on the jab rollout, vaccine effectiveness, hospital admissions, and new virus variants – would only be confirmed on 12 July following a review of the latest data, No 10 said.
The findings of reviews on the use of COVID-19 certification – or vaccine passports – and on social-distancing measures are also due to be announced by Mr Johnson on Monday.
Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick said on Sunday that England would move to a period without legal restrictions and with an emphasis on “personal responsibility”, including on face masks.
