Prime Minister of Britain Boris Johnson announced Wednesday the end of COVID-19 measures introduced to curb the rapid spread of the Omicron variant in the country, looking to transition to life alongside the virus.
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Britain was the first country to limit international travel over Omicron, raising alarm about its high infection rate, and in December encouraged work from home, more mask-wearing and vaccine passes to slow its spread.
But while cases soared to record highs, hospitalizations and deaths have not risen by the same extent, in part due to Britain's booster rollout and the strain's lesser severity.
Johnson's approach to avoiding lockdowns and living alongside the virus contrasts with China and Hong Kong's zero-tolerance policy with regard to COVID, and tougher restrictions in many other European countries.
"Many nations across Europe have endured further winter lockdowns... but this government took a different path," Johnson told lawmakers, saying the government had got the toughest decisions right and that numbers of patients in intensive care were decreasing.
"Our scientists believe it is likely that the Omicron wave has now peaked nationally ... because of the extraordinary booster campaign, together with the way the public have responded to the Plan B measures, we can return to Plan A."
Johnson said that none of the so-called Plan B measures would remain, as face masks would no longer be legally enforced anywhere, COVID passes would not be mandatory, and work from home not be encouraged.
The prime minister has faced criticism for his handling of the pandemic overall as Britain has reported 152,513 COVID deaths, the seventh-highest total globally. Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland have followed their own anti-coronavirus measures, generally with tougher restrictions, but have also begun to ease them.
Johnson hopes to reset his agenda following furor over the lockdown gatherings at his office, which was followed by calls on him to resign. Johnson admitted he attended a party in the garden of his Downing Street office and residence in May 2020 while social gatherings were banned.
The lifting of Plan B measures, along with Johnson's navigation of Omicron without resorting to a stringent lockdown, could help him appease vocal opponents of restrictions in his own caucus amid the party unrest.
He said that if data supported it, he may end the legal requirement for people to self-isolate if they test positive before the regulation lapses in March.
"But to make that possible, we must all remain cautious during these last weeks of winter," he said, warning of continued pressure on hospitals. "The pandemic is not over."
A third of Britain's 15 million cases have been reported since the onset of Omicron. By contrast, the country has reported 5% of its COVID deaths since the mutation was identified in late November.
"The idea was by really trying to put a lot of impetus on the booster program, it would be possible ride it out without the most coercive methods," Professor Francois Balloux of University College London's Genetics Institute, told Reuters.
"In terms of morbidity and mortality, I think it could be seen as probably the right decision."
Meanwhile, Sweden set a new daily record for COVID-19 cases, registering 37,886 cases on Jan. 18, health agency data showed on Wednesday as an infection wave mounted across the country.
The previous record of 26,566 cases was set on Jan. 12. The record came despite limited national test capacity.
Kronoberg, one of Sweden's 25 healthcare regions, said on Wednesday it would pause all testing except for hospital and elderly care patients and staff.
Sweden, with 10.4 million inhabitants, recorded 67 new deaths since Tuesday, and 28,176 deaths since the outbreak of the pandemic.
The government announced new restrictions this month as Omicron spread rapidly and put a strain on Sweden's healthcare.
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In related news, the US government will make 400 million non-surgical N95 masks from its strategic national stockpile available for free to the public starting next week, a White House official said, marking the Biden administration's latest effort to help curb the pandemic.
The face masks will be shipped to pharmacies and community health centers this week, the official said, and available for pickup late next week.
The move comes after President Joe Biden and his team faced criticism for failing to foster masking or bolster testing as Omicron raged across the country.
Addressing that criticism and the wave, the administration has made free tests available via a website that launched officially on Wednesday in addition to its announcement about deploying masks from the strategic reserve.
"This is the largest deployment of personal protective equipment in US history," the official said. "To ensure accessing these masks is easy and convenient, the administration is leveraging the federal retail pharmacy program and the federal community health center program, so that free masks are available at many of the same convenient and trusted locations Americans go to get vaccinated and boosted."
The masks will be available at tens of thousands of pharmacies and thousands of community health centers with supplies available by the end of next week, the official said. "The program will be fully up and running by early February."
Masks like the N95 that form a seal around the nose and mouth are considered especially effective at preventing virus spread. Last week the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that Americans wear "the most protective mask" that they can.
Biden's team previously said there is ample supply to share the masks.
Hospitals have recovered from the desperate N95 shortages of the early pandemic, but several executives told Reuters that healthcare supply chains remain fragile and that small and poorly funded hospitals are at most risk if Americans make N95s their "everyday" masks.
US mask makers told Reuters they have the machines to make millions of N95s each month.
