UK PM urges caution as COVID-19 lockdown legally ends in England

London: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday urged caution as the legal lockdown restrictions come to an end in England on so-called Freedom Day , even as he remains in self-isolation after coming in contact with UK Health Secretary Sajid Javid who has tested positive for COVID-19.

Johnson warned of the extreme contagiousness of the Delta variant of Coronavirus, which continues to keep the infection rate in the country at very high levels.

Under Step Four of the government's four-step roadmap to end lockdown, COVID restrictions have now been replaced with guidance emphasising personal judgement and responsibility on face masks in indoor settings and caution in large gatherings.

We're doing a big opening up, and that's quite right. If we don't do it now we'll be opening up in the autumn and winter months when the virus has the advantage of the cold weather. We'll lose the precious firebreak we get with the school holidays, said Johnson in a video posted on Twitter.

If we don't do it now we've got to ask ourselves, when will we ever do it? This is the right moment. But we've got to do it cautiously. We've got to remember that this virus is sadly still out there. Cases are rising, we can see the extreme contagiousness of the Delta variant, he said.

The first lockdown was announced in the UK on March 23 last year. There was some easing in restrictions for summer months last year before another full lockdown was imposed in January 2021. Since then, there has been a 4-step roadmap to come out of it. Different parts of the UK have followed different norms of easing restrictions.

He reiterated the message for everyone to come forward for their first or second doses, as the massive National Health Service (NHS) vaccination programme has very severely weakened the link between infection, hospitalisation and death.