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Johnson to end forced self-isolation after positive Covid test in England
PM to announce end to legal duty to quarantine next week as part of ‘living with Covid’ measures

Jenn Selby
Sat 19 Feb 2022 22.43 GMT

The prime minister is to announce the end of the legal duty to self-isolate after testing positive for Covid-19 next week.

Downing Street said Boris Johnson will lay out his intentions to repeal all pandemic regulations that restrict public freedoms in England as part of his “living with Covid” plan on Monday.


https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... in-england

The Cabinet has agreed to end almost all remaining health restrictions from next Monday.

Mask wearing in schools, in retail settings and on public transport will be voluntary from the 28th of February, but they will still be required in healthcare settings such as hospitals.

Physical distancing measures in schools, such as pods, will also end next week, while testing and tracing will be scaled back from its current form.

NPHET will be wound-up too, but the Office of the Chief Medical Officer will continue to monitor the "epidemiological profile of the disease".

When it comes to the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic, things may be looking up again in Europe, but not in a good way. The past week has seen yet another upswing in reported Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations in countries such as the U.K., Ireland, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Italy. On Saturday, Eric Topol, MD, founder and director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, tweeted, “The next wave in Europe has begun,” along with graphs of Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations over time from Our World in Data:




This European upswing is coming about a month after various countries and locations in Europe began lifting Covid-19 precautions such as face mask requirements for indoor public locations. The U.S. has been taking similar relaxation steps in February and March as well. The ongoing concern is that all of this may have been premature relaxation. Because, gee, what happened soon after the last two times that such mass relaxation in the Europe and the U.S. occurred? Here’s a hint. The answer rhymes with 19 hairy spurges.

Yes, a big old Covid-19 surge took place in the U.S. starting June 2021 about a month or so after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had changed its face mask guidance in May, as I covered for Forbes back then. A similar thing happened again in November 2021 about a month or so after mass gatherings and travel returned close to pre-pandemic levels, as I also covered for Forbes. After this latter surge occurred, some blamed it all on that pesky Omicron variant, claiming that its arrival was unexpected. How can you not expect a variant to emerge when new variants have been emerging throughout much of the pandemic? Plus, the upswing really began in the U.S. before the Omicron variant was even discovered in South Africa. And now with this Omicron-fueled surge on the downswing, political leaders have instituted another round of relaxation. What could possibly go wrong? What’s that quote about “Those that fail to learn from history being doomed to repeat it?”

Europe tried to leave Covid-19 behind, but the rush to unwind restrictions is now setting the stage for a revival of pandemic risks.

Accelerated by the emergence of BA.2 -- a more-transmissible strain of the omicron variant -- the virus has spread rapidly. Germany on Tuesday set a fresh record for infection rates for the four straight day. Austria has also reached new highs, while cases in the Netherlands have doubled since lifting curbs on Feb. 25.

Most authorities have shrugged off the surge, showing little appetite to re-impose curbs after easing measures just a few weeks ago. But the virus threatens to cause problems anyway, with businesses and schools disrupted as people call in sick.

“The messaging from politicians is encouraging many people who were taking precautions to mix with others,” said Martin McKee, professor of public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. “It does seem very courageous, and indeed risky, to assume that the pandemic is over.”

RTH10260 wrote: ↑Thu Mar 17, 2022 10:07 am I get it that governments got tired to be blamed for the general effects of lockdowns and limitations and are now waiting for the people to screem for a return to a harsher regime. But most importantly since the availability of vaccines the hospitals can handle the workload of unvaccinated to be cared of. Vaccinated people hardly ever need hospital care, the Omicron variant takes the form of the common flu. Home testing for covid is now generally available for people who think the critter sneaked up on them and they can remain at home without becomeing a superspreader.