Covid-19: Sheffield Council urges people to ‘think carefully’ as Boris Johnson announces end to isolation

Prime minister Boris Johnson announced that all Covid restrictions – including the legal requirement to self isolate – will end in England on Thursday and free mass testing will stop from April 1.

Ruth Granger, acting consultant in Public Health at Sheffield Council, said: “We are looking at what the Government announcements on the ending of testing, contact tracing and the legal requirement to self-isolate means for our services and how we support people in Sheffield.

“There continues to be guidance that if you are unwell you should stay at home. We are still encouraging people to think carefully about protecting themselves and those they care about, especially if they have symptoms of Covid.

“Vaccination is still a really important way to protect yourself and others from Covid-19. Find out how to get your vaccination appointment at https://www.sth.nhs.uk/.”

Mr Johnson faced criticism following the announcement.

The British Medical Association, a doctors’ union, said the plan failed to protect those most at risk from Covid and opposition parties said it moved too fast, and voiced concern over the scaling back of free testing.

The Scottish government said the public health advice it had received did not recommend lifting the restrictions.

Speaking at a Downing Street news conference yesterday evening, Mr Johnson said “today is not the day we can declare victory over Covid because this virus is not going away”.

He described the pandemic as “two of the darkest, grimmest years in our peacetime history”.

However, he said the nation had passed the peak of Omicron, with falling cases and hospital admissions.

He said the country could now complete the “transition back towards normality” while retaining contingencies to respond to a Covid resurgence or a new variant.

England’s chief medical officer Professor Sir Chris Whitty said the ending of virus restrictions was a “gradual, steady change over a period of time”, adding: “This is not a sudden ‘everything stops’.”

He said the number of people being infected with Omicron was still “very high”.