UK Lifts COVID-19 Lockdown, PM Boris Johnson And Finance Minister In Isolation

British illustration. (Unsplash/Tania Mousinho)

JAKARTA - Britain is ending its COVID-19 lockdown that has lasted more than a year, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Finance Minister Rishi Sunak in isolation after coming into contact with a minister who tested positive for COVID-19.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson ended more than a year of restrictions on the UK's COVID-19 lockdown on Monday, urging the public to remain cautious but put their trust in a vaccine to protect the country even as infections soar.

Referred to by British media as 'Freedom Day', PM Johnson's decision to lift regulations to restart an economy damaged by a series of lockdowns since March 2020 marks a new chapter in the global response to the coronavirus.

If vaccines continue to prove effective in reducing severe illness and death even as infections reach record levels, PM Johnson's decision could inform other heavily vaccinated countries' approaches to returning to normal.

However, this strategy has risks, particularly concerns that a vaccine-resistant COVID-19 variant could emerge, or the caseload could grow so severe that the economy stalls. With that in mind, PM Johnson has urged the public to take a cautious approach to reopening.

"If we don't do it now, we have to ask ourselves, when will we do it?" he said in a video message recorded on Sunday, citing Reuters on Monday 19 July.

"This is a good time but we have to do it with care. We have to remember, unfortunately, this virus is still out there," continued PM Johnson.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. (Wikimedia Commons/10 Downing Street)

The UK has the seventh-highest death toll in the world, 128,708, and is expected to soon have more new infections every day than at the height of the second wave of the virus earlier this year. Last Sunday, the UK recorded 48,161 new cases.

However, the UK is currently at the forefront of vaccinations, outperforming the rest of Europe with 87 percent of adults having received one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and more than 68 percent having received two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Meanwhile, for daily deaths, the UK is currently recording around 40 deaths per day, far less than the peak of daily deaths in January which reached 1,800 deaths per day.

From midnight, UK laws requiring face masks to be worn in shops and other indoor places will expire, as will capacity limits in bars and restaurants, including rules limiting the number of people who can socialize together.

Previously, PM Johnson set COVID-19 restrictions for the UK, with devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland making their own policies.

Surprisingly, PM Johnson and Finance Minister Rishi Sunak are self-isolating, after Health Minister Sajid Javid tested positive for the virus on Saturday. PM Johnson is known to hold a meeting with Javid last Friday. PM Johnson and Sunak's plans to evade the UK's 10-day quarantine requirement were scrapped following public protests on Sunday.

However, the government's chief medical adviser has warned the crisis could return surprisingly quickly if the number of cases spikes. PM Johnson himself has highlighted the risks of the new variant and urged citizens to complete the vaccine program.

"Above all, please, please, please, when you are asked to get that second vaccination, please go ahead and do it," said PM Johnson, who is due to self-isolate at the British PM's official residence, Checkers.