The decision of the British government to abolish the mandatory use of masks in the covered areas, except hospitals, seems to have been taken from July 19, when the other legal restrictions against the coronavirus are expected to be lifted.
Asked about this on Sunday, the Minister of Housing and Communities Robert Jenrik said that the country will go through a period without legal restrictions and without the state telling the citizens what to do. "We have to follow a degree of personal responsibility and judgment," he said before adding that he would throw away his mask.
Mr Jenrik also said the British should learn to live with the coronavirus and that the "huge success" of the vaccination program would allow the government to think about how normalcy could be restored as much as possible.
"The data that we see and the Prime Minister is examining at the moment before the decision point on the road map look very positive. "It really seems like we can now move to a much freer regime, in which we move away from a lot of restrictions."
Prime Minister Boris Johnson will outline his intentions for "Freedom Day" on July 19 this afternoon, before the final announcements will be made on July 12.
In a statement late Sunday, Mr. Johnson said that thanks to the successful vaccination program, the government is carefully moving the roadmap to a complete exit from the lockdown.
"We will show how we can restore freedoms when we reach step 4 (of the roadmap). But I must stress that the pandemic is not over and that the incidence will continue to rise in the coming weeks. "As we begin to learn to live with this virus, we must all continue to carefully manage our risks and apply our judgment as we go about our lives," he said.
According to the Telegraph, Mr. Johnson has already decided to abolish the mandatory use of a mask, but also the observance of social distances. It is expected to replace legal restrictions with a call for "personal responsibility" and "common sense".
The decisions are dictated by the British Prime Minister's belief that vaccines have broken the link between cases and hospitalizations, so there is no risk of saturation of the NHS health system, the newspaper added.
Official figures show that although in recent weeks the average weekly increase in cases has been around 70%, hospitalizations have increased by only about 25% and to levels corresponding to 1/20 of hospitalizations at the peak of the second wave of the pandemic in January.
Among the decisions the government is believed to be targeting is the abolition of the isolation requirement for fully vaccinated citizens who come into contact with confirmed cases.
Similarly, fully vaccinated people will avoid quarantine upon their return from the orange travel list countries, but it has not been clarified when this measure will take effect.
Also, the obligation of students to stay in isolation at home will be abolished if a case occurs in their classroom and will be replaced by daily diagnostic tests.
Finally, the obligation of shopkeepers to ask customers for their details or to ask them to scan with their mobile phone the QR code at the entrance is expected to be abolished in order to be notified in case of an incident in order to be isolated.
It is noted that the new Minister of Health Sajid Javid made it indirectly clear that the restrictions will be lifted on July 19, as he commented in an article in the Daily Mail that he considers "equally unshakable" the arguments in favor of improving citizens' mental health by opening up society. with the arguments about breathing for the economy.