Boris Johnson expected to revoke all Covid rules as he sets out long-term plan

The Prime Minister is expected to revoke all coronavirus regulations that restrict public freedoms in England when he lays out his vision for the future on Monday.

The cabinet will meet in the morning of February 21 to agree on the long-term plan for the country – with Boris Johnson expected to update parliament later in the afternoon.

A press conference will then take place in the evening.

The government announced an end to Plan B measures in January, which saw further restrictions in place on wearing face masks in certain public spaces and Covid-19 passes for nightclubs and large events.

While Mr Johnson says the pandemic is not over, he argues the country is ‘one step closer’ towards normality as he prepares to end the legal requirement for self-isolation.

He credits the success of the Covid-19 vaccination programme for being able to consider lifting the remaining legal restrictions – as government figures show over 81% per cent of adults have received a booster dose in England and cases are continuing to fall.

The Prime Minister said: “Today [Monday] will mark a moment of pride after one of the most difficult periods in our country’s history as we begin to learn to live with covid.

“It would not be possible without the efforts of so many – the NHS who delivered the life-saving vaccine rollout at phenomenal speed, our world-leading scientists and experts, and the general public for their commitment to protecting themselves and their loved ones.

“The pandemic is not over but thanks to the incredible vaccine rollout we are now one step closer towards a return to normality and finally giving people back their freedoms while continuing to protect ourselves and others.”

In an interview with Sophie Raworth broadcast on BBC Sunday Morning, he said the government must now encourage personal responsibility.

“We have reached a stage where we think you can shift the balance away from state mandation, away from banning certain courses of action, and compelling certain courses of action, in favour of encouraging personal responsibility.”

He added that the public should remain cautious, and get vaccinated if they are yet to do so.

“I think it’s very important we should remain careful,” he said.

“We’re certainly not asking people to throw caution to the winds. Covid remains a dangerous disease, particularly if you haven’t been vaccinated.”

Meanwhile, Mr Johnson refused to rule out reintroducing restrictions in the event of a new variant in the future.

“You’ve got to be humble in the face of nature,” he responded.

The PM also said the UK cannot continue to spend £2 billion a month on testing.

“I think we need resilience, but we don’t need to keep focused on testing,” he said. “We don’t need to keep spending at a rate of £2 billion a month – which is what we were doing in January.”

Downing Street has said they will continue to take a “cautious approach”, retaining some surveillance systems and plans for contingency measures that can be stood up if needed to respond to new variants.

However the move to end self-isolation requirements for positive Covid cases has been criticised by experts.

Dr Chaand Nagpaul, chair of the council of the British Medical Association, told BBC News: “I think the right time is when the first leap of faith is supported.

“You have at the moment more people dying, more people in the hospital, than you had before Plan B (restrictions) was introduced.

“It seems a rather odd decision to make. 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.

“The second thing is we do need therefore to continue having surveillance, because you won’t know whether you’ve reached that point where the infection rates have come down enough until you’ve had that surveillance.”