British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's planned lifting of coronavirus restrictions under his government's new "living with COVID" strategy hit a last-minute snag, Reuters reports, as a cabinet meeting to sign off on the plan was delayed and Scottish and Welsh leaders spoke out against it. "Testing has played a pivotal role in breaking chains of transmission and as a surveillance tool helping us detect and respond to emerging variants," said Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford. "It's essential that this continues."
The effort would make Britain the first major European country to let people diagnosed with COVID-19 work, shop, and use public transport, but would also restrict access to free testing. Johnson said on Sunday that people shouldn't "throw caution to the wind," but that the success of the U.K. vaccination program meant the nation could start relying on personal responsibility rather than government mandates to curb infections. A Johnson spokesman said on Monday that the cabinet meeting was postponed "so that the prime minister could have both a security briefing and to have further meetings to finalize the plan on living with COVID."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Top Russian general killed in Moscow blastSpeed Read A remote-triggered bomb killed Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, the head of Russia's Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Defense
-
Why Assad fell so fastThe Explainer The newly liberated Syria is in an incredibly precarious position, but it's too soon to succumb to defeatist gloom
-
NATO chief urges Europe to arm against RussiaSpeed Read Mark Rutte said Putin wants to 'wipe Ukraine off the map' and might come for other parts of Europe next
-
New Syria government takes charge, urging 'stability'Speed Read The rebel forces that ousted Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad announced an interim government
-
Romania's election rerunThe Explainer Shock result of presidential election has been annulled following allegations of Russian interference
-
Russia's shadow war in EuropeTalking Point Steering clear of open conflict, Moscow is slowly ratcheting up the pressure on Nato rivals to see what it can get away with.
-
South Korea roiled by short-lived martial lawSpeed Read President Yoon Suk Yeol's imposition of martial law was a 'clear violation of the constitution,' said the opposition parties who have moved to impeach him
-
Syrian rebels seize Aleppo in surprise offensiveSpeed Read The rebels made gains against President Bashar al-Assad’s forces and reignited Syria's 13-year-old civil war
