UK to start 'living with COVID' as it lifts restrictions

London [UK], February 22 (ANI): UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday outlined England's roadmap to ending all legal COVID-19 restrictions and start "living with Covid," reported CNN.
Johnson has revealed plans to end self-isolation rules and the provision of free coronavirus tests in England. Notably, this came a day after the announcement of Queen Elizabeth II testing positive for COVID-19.
Though hailing the end of restrictions, Johnson and other UK officials clarified that the pandemic is not yet over.
The British PM said that the government will continue to monitor the situation and keep certain infrastructure in place to identify any mutations of the virus as "Covid will not suddenly disappear", reported CNN.
The end of restrictions in England will happen in a phased manner and will be subject to approval in parliament.
The legal requirement for self-isolation post a positive COVID report will end on February 24 and the vaccinated contacts of those who have tested positive will not be required to test for seven days now and unvaccinated contacts will not be required to isolate, reported CNN.
In view of the changes, the UK government will roll back some of the financial support for those who have been unable to work from home if tested positive. This will be implemented with effect from March 24.

No free rapid tests will be provided by the government from April 1.
However, the government will continue its vaccination programme and continue a domestic surveillance system that tracks the spread of the virus and sequencing that might catch any new variants, reported CNN. (ANI)