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Mission Accomplished? Boris Johnson Ends Covid Restrictions

Boris Johnson today announced his long-term strategy for living with the Covid virus. Following a delayed cabinet meeting earlier today, the Prime Minister told MPs of his plans to end Covid restrictions in the UK. In the immediate future, the legal requirement to self-isolate after a positive Covid test will be removed on Thursday, while free universal testing will end in England on April 1st. Tests will remain available to symptomatic people in older age groups and those who are most vulnerable.

Speaking in the House of Commons today, the Prime Minister commented that ‘people will be asked to exercise personal responsibility just as we encourage people who may have flu to be considerate to others.’

Testing the Limits

This dramatic cut to free tests comes following reported rows between the Department of Health and Social Care and the Treasury regarding the level of funding given to government-provided testing. It has long been the stated aim of the Government to remove Covid restrictions as soon as possible. Tweeting yesterday, the Prime Minister said “Covid will not suddenly disappear, and we need to learn to live with this virus and continue to protect ourselves without restricting our freedoms.”

However, with the UK currently registering over 47,000 daily cases, the removal of free tests has been criticised by Labour as short-sighted. It is certainly true that testing is incredibly expensive – over the weekend, the Prime Minister cited a figure of £2 billion for the month of January. Whether this figure is accurate or not, it is likely something of an outlier. Testing in January was likely much higher than usual, with more than 200,000 cases earlier in the month, so if spending on testing was indeed this high, it would be unlikely that the spending remained as high as £2 billion as cases decrease.

Boris Johnson 21.2.22
Downing Street Briefing: The Prime Minister addresses the nation

Final Thought

As advocates of preventative approaches to healthcare will tell you, the benefits of testing are in the costs that it avoids, both financial and in terms of health. While this is not simply a preventative vs reactive debate due to the much lower rates of death and hospitalisations and the reduced strain on the NHS, some have criticised the timing of this decision. Speaking in the Commons today, Labour Leader Keir Starmer commented that “Free tests can’t continue forever, but if you’re 2-1 up with 10 minutes to go you don’t sub off one of your best defenders.”

In particular it raises the issue of identifying and tackling new variants as they arise. Without universal testing, this becomes a borderline impossible task. The significant levels of vaccination inequalities across the world were a key contributing factor to the spread of Omicron. Against this backdrop, removing universal testing comes with significant risks. However they are clearly risks that the Prime Minister is willing to bear.

When cases decline precipitously after April 1st, keep your eyes pealed for a celebratory Prime Minister with a selective memory.

19.45 Update – Downing Street Briefing:

Addressing the nation at a briefing in Downing Street this evening, the Prime Minister admitted that the pandemic is “not over” and there could be a resurgence of new variants – declaring that “today is not the day we can declare victory.”

In a sober assessment of the state of Covid-19 in the UK, both the Chief Scientific Officer and the Chief Medical Officer provided a sober assessment of the future. Sir Patrick Vallance told the Downing Street Briefing that “we expect there to be further variants and expect them to be more severe.”

“You can celebrate when the sun is shining, but take an umbrella with you.”

Sir Patrick Vallance, UK Government Chief Scientific Advisor

To compensate for the removal of mass testing, the Prime Minister said that the Government would invest in Office for National Statistics (ONS) Surveillance and that should a spike in Covid cases arise, this would be followed by ‘surge testing’ if necessary.

Patrick Vallance.jpg 21.2.22
UK Chief Scientific Office, Sir Patrick Vallance tells the Downing Street briefing that “it is inevitable” that transmission will increase if Covid-19 control measures are relaxed.

In contrast to the Prime Minister’s optimistic tone, the Chief Medical Officer in England, Sir Chris Whitty told the briefing that Omicron variant rates of infection are “still high” and that he is concerned about the potential risk of new variants. Furthering the contrast between the medical and political view, he said that public health advice had not changed and that people with symptoms should continue to isolate.

Shadow Health and Care Secretary, Wes Streeting has called for testing to continue until the summer.

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