On Thursday, 24 February 2022, the Prime Minister said he was lifting the COVID-19 restrictions  “Because of the efforts we have made as a country over the past two years”.
People in England who test positive for COVID are no longer legally required to self-isolate.
The Government replaced by the Coronavirus restrictions with the new “Living with COVID Plan”.
Twice weekly asymptomatic testing for staff and students in most education and childcare settings, is too, cancelled.

What changes are implemented since 24 February 2022?

  • People who test positive for COVID-19 are not legally bonded to self-isolate
  • Adults and children who test positive will be advised to self-isolate – this too is not a legal requirement
  • Vaccinated contacts of people who have tested positive will no longer be asked to do daily lateral flow tests for seven days
  • Contact tracing will end
  • Support payments for people who would have previously self-isolated with COVID will end
  • Businesses will no longer be legally required to tell staff to self-isolate if they have COVID

The Prime Minister, Mr. Boris Johnson quoted this while talking about lifting the restrictions –
“Because of the efforts we have made as a country over the past two years, we can now deal with it in a very different way, moving from government restrictions to personal responsibility, so we protect ourselves without losing our abilities and maintaining our contingent capabilities so we can respond rapidly to any new variant”.