The British public will still be expected to wear masks and urged to work from home after July 19, ministers and officials said on Sunday, as MPs warned Freedom Day risked being “watered down”.
The Prime Minister is expected the four tests that will allow him to proceed with the final stage in his roadmap have been met, however on Sunday night Mr Johnson issued words of caution.
“We are tantalisingly close to the final milestone in our roadmap out of lockdown, but the plan to restore our freedoms must come with a warning,” he said.
Mr Johnson claimed the vaccine rollout has “weakened” the link between Covid cases and hospitalisations or deaths, however he said, “the global pandemic is not over yet”.
The PM said that “cases will rise as we unlock”, saying: “Caution is absolutely vital, and we must all take responsibility so we don’t undo our progress, ensuring we continue to protect our NHS.”
Nadhim Zahawi, the vaccines minister, said on Sunday that although there will be no government “diktat”, the public will be “expected” to continue wearing masks in crowded and enclosed places after July 19.
“The guidelines will be very clear on things like mask-wearing. There’s an expectation for people to wear masks indoors, in crowded places, on public transport,” he told BBC One’s Andrew Marr Show. He added that it would be “both a personal responsibility and a corporate responsibility”.
Steve Baker, the deputy chairman of the Covid Recovery Group of lockdown-sceptic Tory MPs, accused ministers of a “shift in policy” and said it was “torturing the nation”.
Mr Baker said for some people wearing a mask is a “terrible thing”, he added: “It’s not fair snatching away people’s hope, it’s psychologically, profoundly destructive.”
Liam Fox, a former Cabinet minister, called on Mr Johnson to justify the guidance to continue wearing masks by publishing the scientific data around the protection offered by face coverings.
“At some point we have to get back to people exercising their personal responsibility… If the expectation is to wear the mask then give us the data,” he said.
Dr Susan Hopkins of Public Health England (PHE) called for people to continue following the advice beyond July 19, she said: “Then we should continue to look and see and have a cautious return to the office over the coming weeks, once we start to see a decline in the number of cases.”
Editor-in-Chief | Carl D. Pearson has been involved in British politics and media from an early age, with the key knowledge of what it takes to run a news organisation for the 21st century. Mr Pearson, as Editor-in-chief, is responsible for supervising the daily tasks of publishing media and content to UNN’s website and various platforms.
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