UK PM Johnson drops COVID-19 restrictions

LONDON (Reuters) – People in England will no longer be required to wear face masks anywhere or work from home from next week, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Wednesday, adding that scientists believed a wave of the Omicron coronavirus variant had peaked nationally.

Johnson also said that while people would still be required to self-isolate for now, he did not expect to renew self-isolation legislation, which will expire in March, and would look into scrapping the requirement sooner.

“Because of the extraordinary booster campaign, together with the way the public have responded to the Plan B measures, we can return to Plan A in England and allow Plan B regulations to expire as a result from the start of Thursday next week,” Johnson told parliament.

Johnson said mandatory COVID-19 certification would end, though businesses could choose to continue COVID passes if they wanted to.

(Reporting by Alistair Smout, writing by William James, editing by Elizabeth Piper)