BORIS Johnson urged the nation to put the “darkest days” of Covid behind us and grasp our new-found freedoms with renewed confidence.
Announcing his plan to axe lockdown laws and “restore liberties in full”, the Prime Minister last night said it was time to learn to live with the virus and continue to protect ourselves without restrictions.
But he gave a sobering warning saying it was too soon to declare victory over Covid as worse variants loom.”
At a Downing St press conference last night, the PM urged the country to bounce back “after two of the darkest, grimmest years in our peacetime history”.
He said: “I would encourage people to get back to work with confidence. We have the right now, we have the grounds now, to be confident.
“The sun is shining, but we are keeping our umbrella. We are going to make sure we invest in surveillance. We want to have the keenest eyes in the crow’s nest to watch out for the iceberg which is a new variant.”
But Chief medical officer Sir Chris Whitty warned that the Omicron wave was “still high”.
He said: “The rates are coming down but this is still a very common infection.
“Some of those new variants will just disappear, but some of them will cause us significant problems.”
Earlier, Mr Johnson confirmed to the Commons that all domestic legal restrictions will end on Thursday, saying: “It is time to get our confidence back. We don’t need laws to compel people to be considerate of others.
Liberties
This story is from the February 22, 2022 edition of Daily Express.
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This story is from the February 22, 2022 edition of Daily Express.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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