(UTV | ENGLAND) – Boris Johnson said on Monday that he is scrapping the last domestic coronavirus restrictions in England.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday that he is scrapping the last domestic coronavirus restrictions in England, including the requirement for people with Covid-19 to self-isolate.
Johnson said the country was “moving from government restrictions to personal responsibility” as part of a plan for treating Covid-19 like other transmissible illnesses such as flu.
“We now have sufficient levels of immunity to complete the transition from protecting people with government interventions to relying on vaccines and treatments as the first line of defence,” Johnson said.
Jubilant visitors returned to Australia on Monday as the country reopened its borders to vaccinated tourists, nearly two years after the island nation imposed some of the world’s strictest Covid-19 travel restrictions. At the country’s two major international airports in Sydney and Melbourne, tired but elated family and friends rushed from gates to embrace loved ones after years apart.
The country closed its borders to almost everyone except citizens and permanent residents in March 2020, trying to slow surging Covid-19 case numbers.
Average daily cases and hospitalizations are continuing to fall in the US, an indicator that the Omicron variant’s hold is weakening across the country. Total confirmed cases reported on Saturday barely exceeded 100,000, a sharp downturn from around 800,850 five weeks ago on January 16, according to Johns Hopkins University data.