Still Too Early To Ease Virus Rules, Scientists Tell Johnson

The PM says lifting of restrictions is part of a ‘living with Covid’ strategy

- Samuel Lovett

Scientists have warned that it is too early to remove all coronavirus restrictions in England, with some accusing the government of a “pantomime geared towards persuading people that it’s all over”.

The legal requirement to isolate after a positive test will be scrapped from Thursday, Boris Johnson announced as part of the strategy for “living with Covid”.

Routine contact tracing and self-isolation payments will also cease, and free universal testing will come to an end on 1 April.

Despite warning that the “pandemic is not over”, Mr Johnson told MPs that it was time to “move from government restrictions to personal responsibility”, with “suffiient levels of immunity to complete the transition” from laws to relying on vaccines and treatments.

However, the decision to scale back Covid interventions has drawn sharp criticism from scientists and health offiials alike, who have said there is a lack of compelling scientific evidence for the policy.

It comes days after the release of the latest papers from the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), in which government modellers warned that transmission could increase by between 25 per cent and 80 per cent if people “return to prepandemic behaviours” without any mitigations in place.