Babak Belurs: Covid: Living with Covid plan will restore freedom, says Boris Johnson

Boris Johnson is due to set out his plans to scrap all remaining Covid legal restrictions in England, including the requirement to isolate.

The prime minister is meeting the Cabinet this morning before updating MPs in the Commons.

Mr Johnson said the end to restrictions will return people's freedom and "mark a moment of pride as we begin to learn to live with Covid".

Some experts urged caution and Labour questioned plans to reduce testing.

Speaking before Monday's announcement, Mr Johnson said his plan would bring society "towards a return to normality" after "one of the most difficult periods in our country's history".

No 10 said the success of the Covid vaccination programme had put England in a "strong position to consider lifting the remaining legal restrictions".

It added that the pandemic was "not over" and the plan for living with Covid would take a "cautious approach", which would retain "some surveillance systems and plans for contingency measures which can be stood up if needed to respond to new variants".

The legal requirement to self-isolate for a fixed period after testing positive in England has been in place ever since mass testing was rolled out. Before that, most Covid testing was limited to people as they arrived in hospital with symptoms, so self-isolation was not an issue.

Currently positive or asymptomatic people have to isolate for up to 10 days, but can end their isolation earlier if they register negative lateral flow tests on both days five and six.

Mr Johnson has said that Covid testing would take place at a "much lower level" after revealing £2bn was spent on the system in January alone.

Community PCR testing for people with symptoms is expected to stop under the new plan, but it is unclear whether the availability of free lateral flow tests will be reduced.

Prof Sir Andrew Pollard, who helped develop the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, told the BBC's Today programme that "there isn't a right or wrong answer" to when restrictions change.

He said: "If restrictions change this week, next week, or the week after, in six months' time the number of transmission events will likely be very similar."

He added that having a surveillance system - "an early warning system" - in place whenever restrictions are eased will be "critical".

The government is expected to urge people to exercise their own judgment.

But Prof Anthony Costello, professor of global health and sustainable development at UCL, told the BBC: "The worry about lifting the legal restrictions is that we are telling not only our population, but the world, that there is really nothing to worry about, that it's all over when it isn't."

A controversial call for government

Analysis box by Nick Triggle, health correspondent

Covid is no longer an exceptional threat. Despite the huge wave of infections, the numbers dying in recent months has been similar to what you would expect during a normal winter.

Most agree some scaling back is warranted, but it needs to be done carefully.

During the pandemic £37 billion has been set aside for test and trace. This is a huge sum - more than has been spent on GP care.

Mass PCR testing in the community is almost certain to go. But these gold standard tests will be kept in hospitals to diagnose patients who are seriously ill and to keep an eye out on variants.

Many believe the Office for National Statistics surveillance survey can be done on a smaller scale, but it is essential to have something to keep a check on how the virus is spreading.

Then there are rapid tests. They will be vital for high-risk settings such as care homes. But to what extent should the government make them available to the wider public so they can test themselves when mixing with vulnerable friends and family? That's the really difficult and controversial call.

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Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said he was "particularly concerned" about the end of free testing. He said the decision was "like being 2-1 up with 10 minutes left of play and subbing your best defender", adding: "We are not out of the woods yet".

Dr Chaand Nagpaul, chair of the British Medical Association, said infections need to fall further before the rules were relaxed and called on ministers to release data to support their decision.

"It does appear as if the government is trying to pretend that Covid doesn't exist in the day-to-day lives of so many people," he told the BBC.

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Plan B measures - introduced in December to stem the spread of the Omicron variant - including the requirement to wear masks in public places and the use of Covid passes for large events, were abolished in England last month.

Throughout the pandemic, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have moved at different speeds in introducing or relaxing restrictions.

In Northern Ireland, all remaining Covid measures - such as certificates in nightclubs, face coverings, and limits on gatherings in homes - stopped being legally binding on Tuesday.

Wales is currently at alert level zero, its lowest level of Covid rules.

In Scotland, legislation covering face coverings and vaccine passports had been due to expire next Monday but earlier this month ministers extended it for another six months.

At-a-glance: England's changing Covid curbs

March 2020: First national lockdown announced
May to July 2020: Roadmap out of lockdown, leading to lifting of many, but not all, restrictions
September to October 2020: Restrictions including the "rule of six" and regional tiers introduced
November 2020: Second national lockdown, intended as a "firebreak" to slow a noticeable rise in hospital admissions
December 2020: Tiered system returns with new tier four and specific guidelines covering Christmas
January to March 2021: Third national lockdown
March to July 2021: Roadmap out of lockdown, but this time with almost all measures removed
December 2021 to February 2022: "Plan B" measures put in place in response to the Omicron variant

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