UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced Monday that all pandemic legal curbs in England would end later this week, marking a shift from government intervention to personal responsibility.

This comes after Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak won a debate in the cabinet that called for lifting all pandemic restrictions, including Covid laws and free mass testing.

“We don’t need laws to compel people to be considerate to others. We can rely on that sense of responsibility towards one another,” Johnson told the Commons.

Covid restrictions-free

It means that Covid positive individuals are legally no longer required to isolate, and contacts of people testing positive are not obligated to test or isolate.

In addition, Covid passports will be scrapped but available for international travel.

However, Chief Medical Officer, Chris Whitty, and Chief Scientific Adviser, Patrick Vallance, urged people to keep taking precautions.

Vallance indicated that he was concerned about the rates of infection once people return to pre-pandemic behavior.

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“In terms of the current situation, I’d like the prevalence to be lower, I’d like rates of infection to be lower … We are not back to pre-pandemic behaviors yet. And as for those returns, you would expect the pressure and transmission to increase," he explained.

Sad news for the low-paid and vulnerable

Nonetheless, the recent news would mean that the low-paid and vulnerable people will be affected by Johnson's announcement, The Guardian reported.

The newspaper noted that the low-paid would not be able to afford tests and may come under pressure from employers to work when infected with Covid.

"Those on low pay will no longer get financial support to isolate if they test positive, and sick pay will revert to the pre-pandemic rules, with eligibility from day four of illness rather than day one," it mentioned.

The Guardian highlighted that "charities said the end of free tests was also a blow to clinically vulnerable people and older age groups, warning that they may lose confidence about going out in public."

"Tests are an impossible luxury"

Although welcomed by MPs opposed to Covid restrictions, Johnson's decision was criticized by unions, medics, and scientists.

According to The Guardian, the Labour party underlined that the PM's decision “hit the lowest paid and the most insecure workers the hardest."

Similarly, Professor Stephen Reicher, a member of Sage’s behavioral science subgroup, highlighted the inequalities that lifting the laws and restrictions would create.

"Johnson exposed the fallacy of his argument in asserting that ‘anyone who wants to can buy a test.' No they can’t. if you are already having to choose between eating and heating, tests are an impossible luxury," he expressed.

It is noteworthy that the UK was the first European country to pass 100,000 COVID deaths as more than 150,000 people have died after catching the coronavirus in the UK, the government announced on January 9, in a tragic milestone for one of the worst affected countries in Europe.