BORIS Johnson is set to announce a bonfire of Covid rules as Britain learns to live with the virus.
The Prime Minister will unveil his Living with Covid plan tomorrow, which will include an end to legally-enforced self-isolation.
Rules around testing, local government powers and contact tracing could also change.
Isolation
Mr Johnson will announce that anyone who tests positive for Covid will not be forced to self-isolate.
That means fines for non-compliance with quarantine rules of up to £10,000 will cease to be enforceable.
It is thought the new rules will come into place from Thursday.
The change could also mean an end to a £500 payment to poor workers needing to isolate.
Currently anyone with the virus must isolate for at least five full days.
If you return two negative lateral flow swabs on days five and six you can then leave isolation early.
The isolation period has previously been 14 days, ten days and seven days.
Dr Mike Tildesley, from the University of Warwick and a member of the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Modelling group (Spi-M), told Times Radio that at some point the restrictions would have to be eased but that “the concern now is that we still have relatively high cases”.
Dr Chaand Nagpaul, chair of the Council of the British Medical Association, added self-isolation should end when case rates fall.
We told on Friday how daily coronavirus infections have fallen 49 per cent in the last month, and the crucial R rate remains stable between 0.8 and 1.0.
No10 said: “We’re not saying isolation is pointless. We’d expect anyone with an infectious disease to take steps not to spread that disease further – a colleague at work with flu, for example.”
Local lockdowns
Local councils are set to take on responsibility to their Covid responses, a minister said.
Authorities will take on the role once Boris Johnson has announced his plan to lift restrictions, James Cleverley added.
He told Sky’s Trevor Phillips on Sunday show: “What we’re saying now is that the era where we’re having additional differentiated responses to Covid is going to be over and we’re going to move back to the pre-existing regime where local authorities have plans and these plans are well circulated, well tested and pre-existing.
“Those are what we’re expecting local authorities to rely on from this point from when the announcements made are moving forward.”
Testing
Free lateral flow and PCR tests are also facing the axe. Contact-tracing is also expected to go.
But they are not expected to end this week.
Free lateral flows could go at the end of March, when the current round of funding expires.
They may then cost £30 for a pack of seven, it has been reported. But free tests are likely to still be available for vulnerable and older age groups.
The £10billion testing regime has caused Health Secretary Sajid Javid and Chancellor Rishi Sunak to lock horns.
State-funded surveillance could continue after senior statistician Sir David Spiegelhalter argued the Office for National Statistics’ Covid study should remain in place.
Covid tests for schoolchildren are also set to be axed, we revealed this week.
Masks
Mask wearing was scrapped in most venues in England when the Plan B measures were axed.
But there are still some venues where they remain legally enforceable, but soon face the chop.
Currently people are still asked to cover up in health and care settings including hospitals, GP surgeries and pharmacies, and nursing homes.
Schools also currently still have the power to order mask wearing in communal areas like corridors and canteens to fight local outbreaks.
Face coverings are currently still required on public transport in London, but they are not legally enforceable with fines.
Instead people can only be refused entry to TfL services if they refuse to wear a mask
Holidays
Complex passenger locator forms could be simplified even further.
But travel testing for unvaccinated people entering the UK will remain.
