Covid restrictions due to end on July 19 – subject to a final review

Announcement today

COVID restrictions are set to end in England from July 19 -subject to a final review next week- with step 4 of the Roadmap, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has confirmed today (July 5)

Limits on social contact will end, meaning there will be no restrictions on indoor or outdoor gatherings. Weddings, funerals and other life events able to take place without limits or restrictions.

All venues currently closed will be allowed to reopen, including nightclubs, and there will be no legal requirement for table service in hospitality settings.

Face coverings will no longer be legally required in shops, schools, hospitality, or on public transport although guidance will be in place to suggest where people might choose to wear one, such as where coming into contact with people you don’t usually meet in enclosed and crowded places.

The government reviews into social distancing and Covid-status certification have also now concluded. The 1m plus rule will be lifted other than in specific places such as at the border to help manage the risks of new variants coming into the country.

There will be no legal requirement on the use of Covid-status certification as a condition of entry for visitors to any domestic setting.

Over 79 million vaccine doses have now been administered in the UK, every adult has now been offered at least one dose, and 64% of adults have received two doses.

The government has also today confirmed the rollout will accelerate further, by reducing the vaccine dose interval for under 40s from 12 weeks to 8. This will mean every adult has the chance to have two doses by mid-September.

The PM did also set out how cases could rise to 50,000 per day by 19 July, with daily hospital admissions and deaths also rising although more slowly.

The guidance to work from home where possible will also end, to allow employers to start planning a safe return to workplaces.

The cap on the number of named visitors for care home residents will be removed from the current maximum of five per resident, although infection prevention and control measures will remain in place to protect the most vulnerable.

The PM also signalled the government’s intention to move to a new regime whereby fully vaccinated people would no longer need to self-isolate if identified as a contact of someone with covid. Further details will be set out in due course.

The Education Secretary will also update on new measures for schools and colleges later this week.

Proof of vaccination or a negative test will still be required for international travel, with the Prime Minister confirming that the Transport Secretary will provide a further update later this week on removing the need for fully vaccinated arrivals from an amber country to isolate.

33 Comments

  1. Today 27,000 new COVID cases were recorded. Statistics show that the number of cases is doubling every 9 days. Boris acknowledges that by July 19th, when most restrictions might end, there will be more than 50,000 daily cases.
    By mid August there will be >600,000
    By the end of September there could be 7 million *daily* new daily cases.
    Boris tells us the link between infection and death has been broken by the vaccine; science tells us otherwise.
    If there are around 10 deaths per 27,000 infected, then by the end of September there could be more than 2000 deaths every day.
    Someone tell me my maths is wrong.
    Please.

    • Can’t be bothered to check your maths, but your post along with all the other predictions is full of could, if, might etc and uses the worst case scenario. We didn’t have 2000 dieing each day before the vaccination programme or people had developed natural immunity and, putting it bluntly, the countries most vulnerable had died.
      Those that wish to continue keeping away from everyone , wearing a mask and whatever other measures they feel necessary are more than welcome to do so.
      But please allow the others to get on with a normal life.
      If everyone got their bmi under 27 (ideally under 24)got fitter, ate a reasonable diet and have the vaccination they really have little to worry about, those with serious underlying conditions will be given further guidance by the nhs.

      • There’s only one “if”; the rest just logically follows.
        The reason infection and death were contained in earlier waves is because lockdowns were enforced, and worked.
        I would dearly, dearly love for us all to get back to life as normal.
        I would delay, dearly love for someone to show where my basic assumptions or logic is wrong.

        • Tch tch Andrew.
          Even my ancient schoolgirl maths tells me that exponential growth can only continue whilst you’ve got something to grow it in.

          As more of the UK population gets infected, and thus gets some immunity, or even better gets vaccinated, there will be less and less hosts for the virus to infect.
          It will fizzle out.
          Maybe Peter can get to a concert after all.
          Let’s hope it’s not Brahm’s “Requiem”.

          • Virus mutations making jabs less effective? The real big test will come in August/September-when we have had a month or more of indoor mixing, people going back to work on public transport rather than home working-which now it is up to people whether they bother to wear a mask or not from the 19th of this month & social distancing-which is difficult enough on buses & trains is no longer a thing either.

      • You are making just the same predictions you criticise him for. The reality is none of us will know for sure what the July 19th lifting of all restrictions will bring until August/September.

    • I think we get what you are saying Andrew, but you also said this vaccine was the ultimate cure. Also our lives aren’t infinite. 2/3 years is a big chunk of people lives. The last couple years was the last couple for alot of people. Young and old and not because of covid but just life and its been awful. You can’t hold a barrel over people for too long and waste their lives away. We want to enjoy it

  2. Great news from Boris !

    England needs to move on, we are showing the world were open for business.

  3. Good news. Those that are still fearful can wear masks, not go to crowded places and socially distance. Those of us who refuse to live in fear and calculate our chance of becoming seriously ill from Covid are absolutely tiny (a tiny fraction of a single percent) can live our lives as normal.

  4. Looks like good news given that the survival rate for covid is 99.6 per cent and the cases cited to spread fear are often false positives and are not cases of anyone ill or likely to spread anything at all. Over 20,000 people can die of flu yearly, let alone those dying of heart disease, cancer, addictions, car accidents and suicides (which soared in draconian lockdowns). Masks are also very detrimental to health and mental cognition. Let’s go out and enjoy life and look after our immune systems. Let’s see if some dubious powers that be try to pull the same trick in the Winter and attempt to lockdown the country again. Many will not consent to that. But watch out for the drip feed of fear develop on this in the mainstream later on and spurious stories of strange mutations. We’re aware of the games now and of the Behavioural Insights Team and nudge unit and questionable Sage tactics.

    • Endless torrential deluge would be a better description than “ drip feed”. A pity that they can’t put even a fraction of the effort into explaining how lifestyle choices make a huge difference to how you react to covid and the simple steps you can make to reduce your risk levels.

    • “the survival rate for covid is 99.6 per cent ” is true when you compare covid deaths with the whole population. It’s not true when you compare the outcomes compared with infected people.
      But I’ve corrected your mistake for you many times on these pages.
      I don’t mind, in the interests of truth.

  5. Asking the British for common sense. Oh please…

    If that’s all you need to do – why not abolish helmet laws for motorbikes…. Why not get rid of seatbelt laws… we don’t need to waste money on give up smoking campaigns – if Johnson had that much faith in common sense we should see a far different approach in the UK from here on out…

    Truth is this isn’t done on science this is so he doesn’t face a revolt in his own team… the same people here praising the move will be moaning come September….

    There is no need to rush the abandonment of mask and sensible social distancing could easily remain especially with strangers in public places.

    I want a return to some of the norms as much as the next person but this is yet another misstep by a government that botched this from day one….

    • In which case its about time we let “ darwin” hand out a few awards and try to slow down the creeping infantilisation of society.

      • There is no”creeping infantilization” of society. There is science, based on facts discovered by research, and then there is the government’s approach to things.

        • There is also a population craving zero risk with no interest in basic statistics or personal responsibility, balancing these with the need to keep a country functioning is always going to upset someone. Then we can have “scientists” coming up with all sorts of predictions in full knowledge that if they’re wrong they’ll never be held to account but crave their 15 minutes of fame.

          • If you don’t have scientists making predictions, then who should?
            Scientists look at physical phenomena. They collect and collate data. They produce hypotheses to try to explain their observations.
            Then, most crucially, their conclusions are shared with other scientists, at different universities and institutions, to see if the results can be replicated.
            Finally, if satisfactory, the conclusions are published in learned journals.
            Alternatively, there’s gypsy Rose Lee and a cup full Of tea leaves.

          • Yet we are only hearing one side of the scientific debate and generally its those using the extreme worst case everytime, by all means present data, but when we get scare tactics along lines of 60% increase in cases but a failure to declare that its from a very low baseline, the same with fatalities or hospital admissions , rather than the exact numbers we were given at the the height of the first/second wave , its little more than data manipulation and language designed to steer policy by fear. Where’s the science in that?
            One numpty tried to suggest that if measures were relaxed in june as planned we could have 200k more deaths bpin the following 12 months. Which given the number of vaccinations and that most of the extremely vulnerable have already died and natural immunity in the population is little more than the chap reading the runes on ancient mystic texts.
            The news today says that the current rate of death in the country is now 6% below the 5 year rolling average , which adds credence to the view that covid has shortened the lives of many of its victims by a matter of a year or so having infected many of the countries most vulnerable people.
            We also had PHE playing the game last year by supporting the view that the BAME community were disproportionately affected in one study but then in another study of 10,000 in patients where underlying conditions were taken into account found that there was no discernible differences in outcome. So a disproportionate number in the BAME community with underlying conditions was in fact the issue but not the effects of covid, but only one of these made it into the news.
            Science is all well and good if all the science is looked at rather than cherry picked.

      • The irony of you making that comment who seems to be unable to grasp concepts an infant could.

        • Well here are some hard facts. They must be true, because Boris and Sajid Javid quoted them:
          By 19th July (“Freedom” day) we could be looking at 50,000 infections *daily*. And by the summer, the figure will be in excess of 100,000 *daily*.
          But it’s all ok to chuck your masks in the bin, crowd on the buses and trains, and go back to work in the stuffy office.

          • The ever present “ could”, the number of cases is of little importance , as the bast majority of those who catch it will suffer bery little and recover and in the process gain some additional immunity. Then we have huge numbers who have been vaccinated and the data suggests that this much reduces the effects of covid. The issue is how many of the umpteen thousand cases result in serious illness or death. The current figures are suggesting thats its very few and that currently the death rate in the population is below the 5 year average. So on balance and given the risk to the economy and the massive backlog of other patients the nhs has to deal with , its been decided its time to get back to some semblance of normality.

  6. Very interesting open letter here to the Chief Executive of NHS England, Sir Simon Stevens, from the lawyers of Dr Sam White, disciplined for daring to speak and raising allegations of alleged criminal conduct and breach of legal obligations by those leading the covid response. All the details and sources are cited to satisfy those who can only splutter that all is well in the decaying asylum. https://pjhlaw.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/LettertoSirSimon-Stevens2720211.pdf?fbclid=IwAR1M-AFgCiuQgyi4_GkgSn3mO9iKfjQcPVLf5FxaDOFoqSKi4QiXz6H_7wQ

    • As this government has made clear they have no interest in the law-Conservatives happy to break international law in a “specific and limited way. Even after the Folkestone Barracks ruling they intend to carry on using it for years to come. Politicians have been free to flout Covid laws with no comeback. Tory buddies getting mammoth contracts for Covid goods-some of them companies MP’S actually have shares in etc. Like Boris said he doesn’t care how many ‘plebs’ die in the street.

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