COVID-19 Update - 21st February 2022

In a statement in the House of Commons on, 21^st February 2022, Prime Minister Boris Johnson outlined the UK Government’s plan for living with COVID-19.

The Prime Minister said that the UK Government will continue to work closely with the Devolved Administrations, but the ongoing approach for England will be around four principles, including:

1. The removal of all domestic restrictions in law.

• From Thursday, 24 February:
  - The legal requirement to self-isolate following a positive test will end. Self-isolation support payments will also end. COVID provisions for Statutory Sick Pay will still be able to be claimed for a further month.
  - Routine contact tracing will end. Fully vaccinated close contacts and those under 18 will no longer be asked to test daily for seven days.
  - The legal requirement for close contacts who are not fully vaccinated to self-isolate will be removed.
  - Until 1 April, people who test positive will still be advised to stay at home. After April 1 people with Covid-19 symptoms will be advised to exercise personal responsibility.

• From 1 April:
  - Free symptomatic and asymptomatic testing for the general public will end.
  - The UK Government will no longer recommend the use of voluntary COVID19-status certification, although the NHS app will continue to allow people to indicate their vaccination status for international travel.

2. Continuing to protect the most vulnerable with targeted vaccines and treatments.

3. Maintaining resilience: ongoing surveillance, contingency planning and the ability to reintroduce key capabilities such as mass vaccination and testing in an emergency

4. Securing innovations and opportunities from the COVID-19 response, including investment in life sciences.

You can see a copy of the full plan here.