U.K. PM Boris Johnson hints at early end to COVID-19 isolation rules

Officials have said the U.K. government plans to switch from legal restrictions to advisory measures and treat COVID-19 more like the flu as it becomes endemic in the country.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Wednesday that laws requiring people in England with COVID-19 to self-isolate could be lifted by the end of the month, bringing an end to all domestic coronavirus restrictions.

“Provided the current encouraging trends in the data continue, it is my expectation that we will be able to end the last domestic restrictions _- including the legal requirement to self-isolate if you test positive -_ a full month early,” Johnson told Parliament.

People who test positive now have to isolate for five full days. That rule is to expire on March 24.

Johnson added he plans to present his plan for living with the virus when Parliament returns from a short break on Feb. 21.

Johnson’s Conservative government dropped most remaining COVID-19 restrictions last month. Face masks are no longer mandatory anywhere in England, except on London’s public transport network. Virus passports for gaining entry to nightclubs and large-scale events were scrapped, as was the official advice to work from home.

Officials have said the government plans to switch from legal restrictions to advisory measures and treat the coronavirus more like the flu as it becomes endemic in the country.

The U.K. has seen a drop in both new infections and COVID-19 patients admitted to hospitals since early January, when the highly transmissible omicron variant drove daily caseloads to more than 200,000 a day.

Current infections average at around 64,000 daily _ the lowest recorded since mid-December _ with 314 deaths reported on Tuesday.