England will move to the fourth and final stage of the government’s roadmap for lifting lockdown restrictions in a week’s time, the health secretary has confirmed to MPs.
In what Sajid Javid said was a “major milestone for this country”, the move to step four on 19 July will see social distancing rules and limits on social contact removed across the country.
And all remaining businesses that have been closed during the pandemic, such as nightclubs, will be allowed to reopen.
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“We’ve all be yearning to get there and we all want this to be a one-way journey,” Mr Javid told the House of Commons.
He said on the evidence before him, he did not “believe that infection rates will put unsustainable pressure on the NHS”.
Mr Javid said it was the “right time” to go to step four, adding: “If not now, when? There will never be a perfect time to take this step because we simply cannot eradicate this virus.”
As part of step four, businesses and large event organisers will be encouraged to use so-called “COVID passports” – proof of double-vaccination, negative test or recovery from coronavirus – in “high-risk” settings in order to limit the spread of infections in their venues.
The government will also no longer instruct people to work from home if they can, although ministers are recommending employers oversee a gradual return to workplaces for their employees this summer.
And, despite the legal requirement to wear face masks in shops and on public transport being lifted next Monday, ministers will recommend that people continue to wear face coverings in crowded areas such as on trains, trams and buses – although not venues such as nightclubs.
Updated guidance for those most at risk from COVID will also be published this week, ahead of the full reopening on Monday.
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England had been due to move to step four of the government’s roadmap on 21 June, but Prime Minister Boris Johnson last month announced a four-week delay to further unlocking due to a surge in infections of the Delta variant of coronavirus.
The government’s encouragement for large event organisers to use COVID certification – via an NHS app or an emailed test result – appears to mark a change in approach from ministers in the last week.
Mr Johnson previously said that step four would see “no COVID certificate required as a condition of entry to any venue or event”, although businesses and events could “certainly make use of certification” via an NHS app.
The health secretary also previously told MPs that the government had “concluded that we do not think using certification as a condition of entry is the way to go”.
However, the government will now encourage the use of certification for entry for large events where there are significant numbers of strangers mixing without social distancing – particularly indoors where in less well-ventilated places.
Despite the lifting of almost all remaining COVID restrictions under step four, testing, contact-tracing and rules on self-isolation will remain in place.
The requirement for double-vaccinated people, or under-18s, who are a contact of a confirmed COVID case to self-isolate for 10 days will be lifted on 16 August.
The 28-day gap between restrictions being lifted on 19 July and the easing of self-isolation rules has prompted fears that millions of Britons could be forced to self-isolate over the coming weeks.
At a Downing Street news conference later on Monday, the prime minister – who is keen to move away from government diktats on COVID rules – is expected to call on people in England to take responsibility for protecting themselves and others around them as restrictions ease.
He is also expected to repeat his warning that the pandemic is “not over”, with a continuing rise in cases likely to lead to more hospitalisations and deaths.