THE Prime Minister has told Brits to learn to live with Covid.
It follows the arrival of milder Omicron and the success of the vaccine rollout, with many of the pandemic rules now scrapped.
While everyone is enjoying the freedom, it’s hard to know what you should and shouldn’t be doing if you have Covid now.
There are no more legal restrictions for people living in England.
So, if you have the virus and have tested positive, you are no longer required by law to isolate.
You are free to go about your business as you would have been with any other illness pre-pandemic.
So therefore, yes, you can go to work if you have Covid – there are no legal restrictions stopping you anymore.
This applies to everyone – both vaccinated and unvaccinated.
But, as with any other contagious illness, you may want to consider the risk to others if you know you are infectious and are able to work from home.
Omicron is much milder than previous strains of Covid, especially in the vaccinated.
The risk of being hospitalised, dying or having a severe illness is far lower now – with most people having cold-like symptoms.
But some people are more vulnerable due to their age or various health conditions, and may become more unwell.
Boris Johnson brought the curtain down on months of curbs, saying it was now for ordinary Brits – not ministers – to decide how people live their lives.
He told MPs: “We will encourage people with Covid-19 symptoms to enact personal responsibility, in the same way we would with flu.
“We don’t need laws to compel people to be considerate to others – we can rely on that sense of responsibility for others.
“It is time that we got our confidence back. We don’t need laws to compel people to be considerate to others.
“We can rely on that sense of responsibility towards one another by providing practical advice in the knowledge that people will follow it to protect their loved ones.
“So let us learn to live with is protecting ourselves and others without restricting our freedoms.”
RISK ASSESSMENT
No10 added: “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.”
The best way to know if you have Covid, or to know if you’re still infectious within ten days of testing positive, is to take a test.
Currently Brits can order lateral flow tests for free, and go to walk-in PCR testing centres if they have symptoms.
But for people living in England free lateral flow tests will be scrapped on April 1, along with PCRs for people with symptoms.
It means Brits will need to either buy a test, or rely instead on cautionary behaviour if they think they are ill.
The onus is now on the general public to live with Covid, but try not to spread the bug to the more vulnerable.
