Boris Johnson
Boris JohnsonREUTERS

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced Monday that England will end all COVID restrictions, saying that the time has come to ‘learn to live’ with the virus.

In an address to the British Parliament, Johnson laid out what he called his “Living with COVID” plan, which would scrap virtually all restrictions imposed in England during the pandemic, though Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland will continue to maintain their own coronavirus regulations.

"Restrictions pose a heavy toll on our economy, our society, our mental wellbeing and on the life chances of our children, and we do not need to pay that cost any longer," Johnson said.

"So let us learn to live with this virus and continue protecting ourselves and others without restricting our freedoms."

Johnson said the government would continue to monitor the virus, but emphasized that restrictions on personal freedom would be rolled back – even for COVID positive individuals who will no longer be required to quarantine, effective this Thursday.

The prime minister also said that free universal COVID testing would end on April 1st – a decision would could also impact all of Britain, even beyond England.

"It is only because we know Omicron is less severe, that testing for Omicron on the colossal scale we have been doing is much less important and much less valuable in preventing serious illness," Johnson said.

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon blasted the decision, tweeting: "To allow significant dismantling of the testing infrastructure built up in last two years would be inexcusable negligence given ongoing risks."