Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, will scrap hundreds of COVID regulations from July 19, according to The Guardian.
By revoking the regulation, he is about to make England the most unrestricted society in Europe despite announcing that new cases could soar to 50,000 a day before facemasks and social distancing are ditched.
Johnson said opening up would be safest during the school summer holidays. However, he did not say the changes would be irreversible, per the news outlet.
During a Downing Street press conference, the UK PM said, “We must be honest with ourselves that if we can’t reopen our society in the next few weeks, when we will be helped by the arrival of summer and by the school holidays, we must ask ourselves: when will we be able to return to normal?”
By revoking the regulations, Johnson aims to “move from a universal government diktat to relying on people’s personal responsibility,” but added, “obviously, if we do find another variant that doesn’t respond to the vaccines, if, heaven forbid, some really awful new bugs should appear, then clearly we will have to take whatever steps we need to do to protect the public.”
He also announced an acceleration in the vaccination rate, especially among those who are under 40, who will have the gap between doses cut from 12 weeks to eight in line with the over-40s, according to The Guardian.
The final decision on revoking the remaining restrictions will be made next week, but the UK PM said this was the firm direction of travel.
Sajid Javid, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, said schools should expect to stop sending home “bubbles” of children from July 19, in time for many children’s summer holiday camps.
Prof. Chris Whitty, Chief Medical Officer for England, warned that the pandemic was “significant and rising,” adding that hospitalizations were increasing, but modelling suggested the health service would be able to handle the pressures.
“What the modelling would imply is that we will reach that peak before we get to the point where we have the kind of pressures we saw in January of this year,” Prof. Whitty added. “But inevitably, with all models, you have to say that there’s some degree of uncertainty.”
He went on to say that this coming winter “may be very difficult for the NHS and I don’t think that’s a particularly controversial statement,” adding that the NHS would face additional pressures of flu and waiting lists.
British politician Keir Starmer called Johnson’s announcement “party management, not the public interest,” while Johnson’s former adviser turned chief critic Dominic Cummings said the PM was in “let it rip mode.”
NHS authorities have also criticized Johnson’s statement.
Jude Diggins, Interim Director at the Royal College of Nursing, said, “This disease does not disappear on 19 July. No available vaccine is 100% effective. Public mask-wearing is straightforward and well-established – the government will regret the day it sent the wrong signal for political expediency.”
