What changes from 24 February?

• People who test positive for COVID will no longer be bound by law to self-isolate
• Adults and children who have the virus will be advised to self-isolate – but this won’t be a legal requirement
• Vaccinated contacts of people who have tested positive will no longer be asked to do daily lateral flow tests for seven days
• Contact tracing will end
• Support payments for people who would have previously self-isolated with COVID will end
• Businesses will no longer be legally required to tell staff to self-isolate if they have COVID

The prime minister said on lifting the restrictions: “Because of the efforts we have made as a country over the past two years, we can now deal with it in a very different way, moving from government restrictions to personal responsibility, so we protect ourselves without losing our abilities and maintaining our contingent capabilities so we can respond rapidly to any new variant.”

On removing self-isolation support payments, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said: “These are decisions which will hit the lowest paid and the most insecure workers the hardest.”

Meanwhile, Transport for London (TfL) has announced passengers will no longer have to wear face coverings.

The Government scrapped the requirement for people in England to wear face coverings on public transport on 27 January 27 but TfL kept the rule on its services.