Face masks will soon become a matter of “personal choice” for citizens in the UK, Prime Minister Boris Johnson told Reuters on Sunday. When asked if he would stop wearing a mask if permitted, Johnson responded in the affirmative, insisting that a lot of people would prefer to do away with the mask order if possible.
“I will (not wear a mask). I don’t particularly want to wear a mask, I don’t think a lot of people enjoy doing it, we will be moving into a phase though where these will be matters of personal choice,” Johnson told Reuters.
As the UK is all set to open up its economy after July 19, pandemic essentials like face masks will be left to the citizens’ judgement, and the country will “move away” from restrictions that have been difficult for its citizens, said housing secretary Robert Jenrick.
“It will be a different period where we as private citizens make these judgements rather than the government telling you what to do,” Jenrick said.
“It does seem as if we can now move forward and move to a much more permissive regime where we move away from many of those restrictions that have been so difficult for us,” he added.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed on June 28 that most coronavirus restrictions in the UK will come to an end on July 19. Jenrick reiterated Johnson’s words stating that the data that is all set to decide if final lockdown restrictions in the UK can be lifted on July 19 is looking “very positive”, thanks to the success of the vaccination programme. Many in the UK have started to dub July 19 as “Freedom Day”
“The data that we’re seeing that the Prime Minister is reviewing at the moment ahead of his decision point on the roadmap looks very positive,” Reuters said quoting Jenrick.
The British Medical Association (BMA) however suggested that some coronavirus measures like wearing masks and ensuring proper ventilation should be carried on even after July 19. BMA’s words of caution comes amidst a spike in the daily tally of cases in the UK, which reported 27,125 cases on Friday.
“This data coupled with some increases in hospitalisation suggests that it would be quite wrong from a public health interest to on July 19 remove all restrictions … or to give the public the expectation that we will have a pre-Covid society where no one has to take any measures to prevent spread,” Dr Chaand Nagpaul, BMA council chair, said on Saturday.
Johnson had plans to lift restrictions in June but a raging Delta variant caused him to relent. He told reporters last week that vaccination has severed the link between infections and death but cautioned that some restrictions might continue even after July 19.
