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- England has lifted all remaining COVID-19 restrictions, despite UK case numbers hovering at around 50,000 new cases per day
- As of Monday, social distancing and mask wearing is no longer required, while limits on events and nightclubs are lifted
- Britain is one of the first countries to re-open in full, with around 53.6 per cent of its population fully vaccinated against COVID-19
- UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is in isolation though, after the new Health Secretary Sajid Javid tested positive for the virus
- Mr Johnson says now is the right moment to re-open, but urged residents to use common sense as the Delta strain swept across the nation
England has lifted all remaining COVID-19 restrictions, despite UK case numbers hovering at around 50,000 new cases per day.
The nation pushed ahead with its planned “Freedom Day” on Monday, with all COVID-19 restrictions officially lifted.
This means social distancing and mask wearing is no longer required, while limits on events and nightclubs have been lifted.
The country was one of the first nations to re-open in full, alongside Israel and the Netherlands, with each nation relying on high vaccination rates to stem hospitalisations and deaths from COVID-19.
Approximately 53.6 per cent of the entire British population were fully vaccinated against COVID-19 ahead of the re-opening, while 68 per cent of the adult population were fully immunised.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Boris Johnson was in isolation for Monday’s ‘Freedom Day’, after England’s new Health Secretary Sajid Javid tested positive for the virus.
Mr Johnson had planned to continue work as usual despite the case and instead receive daily tests, but over the weekend reversed the decision and announced he would isolate.
In a message posted to social media on Sunday, the PM said now was the right time for Britain to re-open.
“If we don’t do it now we’ve got to ask ourselves, when will we ever do it?” Mr Johnson said.
“But we’ve got to do it cautiously. We’ve got to remember that this virus is sadly still out there.”
Just over 48,000 cases of COVID-19 were recorded in the UK on Sunday, while more than 50,000 cases were recorded on Friday and Saturday.
However, the death rate from those catching the virus as fallen, with 25 deaths recorded on Sunday.
Mr Johnson said the high case numbers showed why it was still important to wear masks in some venues and to self-isolate when coming in contact with the virus.
“Cases are rising, we can see the extreme contagiousness of the Delta variant,” Mr Johnson said.
