UK's Boris Johnson: Political and scientific division over ending COVID-19 curbs cannot exist

Photo Credit: Ben Shread / Cabinet Office,

Boris Johnson, the British PM, says the government did not ignore scientific advice in removing the COVID-19 restrictions in England.

"Living with COVID" is the plan Johnson announced on Monday, ending the last legal restriction requiring those with a positive CCP (Chinese Communist Party) test to self-isolate.

According to Whitty, the Omicron wave is "still high" and "public health advice" still holds that "if one has COVID, one should try to prevent others from getting it by staying home."

Also talking at the news conference, the prime minister said: “I don’t want you to think that there’s some division between the gung-ho politicians and the cautious, anxious scientists, much as it may suit everybody to say so.”

The vaccines and high immunity levels as well as the less virulent nature of the Omicron variant have enabled the government to make these changes.

Despite the possibility of a new variant posing a problem, Johnson said he believed "by doing a lot of the things we have done, largely investments in vaccines and vaccine technology and therapeutics, we'll be in a far better position to tackle that new variant when it comes along."

22 Jan 2022