Many high-risk people feel they must now shut themselves away again – only with none of the support available in 2020
And with that, Boris Johnson ended all remaining pandemic measures in England. Those who test positive for Covid will no longer have to isolate by law from this Thursday – and from April will not even be advised to stay at home if infected. The £500 self-isolation payment for some people on lower incomes will end. Meanwhile, free testing for the vast majority of the public will end from 1 April, apart from some symptomatic clinically vulnerable and very elderly people. It will soon be entirely legal to test positive – if you’ve even got that far – for coronavirus and then wander into a packed pub.
This was less a plan to “live with coronavirus”, and more to simply ignore it. Ministers offered no epidemiological evidence for pulling Covid protections this winter, with experts warning it could cause a rapid rise in the virus.
Frances Ryan is a Guardian columnist
