Boris Johnson scraps remaining COVID restrictions in England

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced that he is scrapping the last domestic coronavirus restrictions in England, including the requirement for people with COVID-19 to self-isolate

LONDON -- British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is scrapping the last domestic coronavirus restrictions in England, including the requirement for people with COVID-19 to self-isolate, even as he acknowledged Monday the potential for new and more deadly variants of the virus.

Johnson told lawmakers in the House of Commons that the country was “moving from government restrictions to personal responsibility” as part of a plan for treating COVID-19 like other transmissible illnesses such as flu.

He said it marked an end to “two of the darkest, grimmest years in our peacetime history.”

“Today is not the day we can declare victory over COVID, because this virus is not going away,” Johnson said at a televised news conference. “But it is the day when all the efforts of the last two years finally enabled us to protect ourselves whilst restoring our liberties in full.”