Announcement by Boris Johnson shows Rishi Sunak has won out over Sajid Javid in cabinet battle over funding
Covid laws and free mass testing are to be swept away across England after Rishi Sunak won a cabinet battle on cutting the cost of the pandemic, prompting fears that the poor and vulnerable will pay the price.
Boris Johnson announced plans to end free testing for the general public from 1 April, saying it was time for people to “get our confidence back”.
Contact tracing will end from Thursday and contacts of people testing positive will no longer have to test or isolate.
Schools and other education settings will no longer be advised to test twice-weekly, with immediate effect.
NHS and social care staff will no longer get asymptomatic testing but this is expected to continue for patients and care home residents.
Covid passports will be scrapped from 1 April, with venues no longer recommended to use them. They will still be available for international travel.
The Office for National Statistics survey of Covid in the community will be maintained but in a slimmed-down version.
The Vivaldi study on care homes and Panoramic study on antivirals will continue, the government insisted, although it was not clear how they will be funded and whether enough testing is being done to support them.