LONDON (Parliament Politics Magazine): For the first time since Plan B steps were implemented to prevent the spread of the Covid variant , commuters are expected to travel to work.
Work-from-home policies have been eliminated, and face masks are no longer required in English classrooms as of today.
Boris Johnson said to the MPs in the House of Commons that people wouldn’t be asked to work from home “from now on,” and that the regulations prohibiting students from wearing facial masks in class would be removed on Thursday.
What else is going to change?
Next Thursday, the need to wear masks on public transportation and in stores will be lifted.
The prime minister also stated that in the weeks to come, self-isolation regulations for persons infected with the coronavirus will be lifted. He said the legal need will expire on March 24 when rules expire, but that the deadline might be moved up.
After reporting that Omicron instances were declining and the wave had likely crested nationally, Mr Johnson said it was time now to “trust the judgement” of the people on the usage of masks in confined and crowded locations.
Sajid Javid, Health Secretary, will lay out changes “in the coming days,” he added, easing limitations on visits to care facilities.
Mr Johnson’s Tory critics may be appeased by the move, which comes as he faces mounting pressure over Downing Street gatherings.
What do the numbers say?
In opinion of the Office for National Statistics , COVID infection levels have dropped in most areas of the Uk. This has happened for the first time since early December (ONS).
In the week leading up to 15 January, one in every 20 persons in England’s private households was expected to have contracted the virus, totalling to about three million people.
The largest number of new cases reported was 218,724 in a single day in the current wave on January 4, with 108,069 lab-confirmed cases documented in the UK as of 9 a.m. on Wednesday, indicating that the high may have passed.
Is COVID on its way to becoming endemic?
Mr Johnson said soon, there will come a moment when the legal duty to self-isolate can be eliminated totally, just like there are no legal obligations on people to isolate if they have flu, implying that COVID will be treated very much like the flu.
He added, as COVID becomes endemic, legal requirements will be replaced with advice and counselling, asking those infected with the virus to be cautious and thoughtful to others.
He stated that the government would outline its long-term plan for “living with COVID.”
The decision was “not based on data.”
The British Medical Association (BMA) council chair, Dr Chaand Nagpaul, argued that removing the safeguards so quickly risked “creating a false sense of security” while the NHS is still under severe strain.
He said, there were 7,373 people in hospital in the UK when Plan B was implemented in December. According to the most recent data from this week, there are 18,9791 people.
Dr. Nagpaul went on to say that eliminating mask-wearing requirements will “inevitably increase transmission,” putting the most vulnerable at risk.
