- British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will push ahead with lifting most of England’s remaining COVID-19 restrictions
- From July 19, face masks will no longer be required, work from home orders lifted, and a six-visitor rule lifted for households
- Isolation rules and school bubbles may remain, while Scotland, Wales and Northern Island are in charge of their own COVID-19 rules
- The relaxing of rules comes despite an uptick in cases as the Delta variant sweeps across the country and the PM predicts up to 50,000 cases a day in the near future
- That case rise will also see a rise in the number of COVID-19 deaths, but Mr Johnson says it’s better England opens in Summer rather than in Winter
Most COVID-19 restrictions will lift in England in the coming weeks, following a ruling by the British Prime Minister.
Boris Johnson has announced masks will no longer be mandatory from July 19, while work from home orders and six visitors per household rules will lift.
Mr Johnson’s decision comes as Britain suffers another wave of COVID-19 infections, as the Delta variant of the virus spreads across the country.
Close to 180,000 COVID-19 infections were recorded over the past week, with more than 27,000 cases recorded on Monday alone.
Despite the uptick, the only rules that may remain in England going forward were the self-isolation orders for those with COVID-19 and school bubbles.
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland were in charge of setting their own COVID-19 rules.
Mr Johnson said the decision to lift those restrictions would be reviewed on July 12, but argued now was the right time to re-open.
“We must be honest with ourselves that if we can’t reopen our society in the next few weeks, when we will be helped by the arrival of summer and by the school holidays, then we must ask ourselves when will we be able to return to normal?” Mr Johnson said.
“We will move away from legal restrictions and allow people to make their own informed decisions about how to manage the virus.”
The PM said by re-opening in summer the country can avoid having another wave of cases during Winter when the cold and flu season was in full swing.
Mr Johnson conceded this would result in more deaths though, with Britain expected to soon reach up to 50,000 COVID-19 cases a day.
“We must reconcile ourselves, sadly, to more deaths from Covid.”
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Around 85 per cent of Britain’s population have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, while 33 million are fully vaccinated.