July 19th "Freedom Day" or not, it is "going to take quite a long time to get back to normality", says Professor Chris Whitty. England's Chief Medical Officer says we won't return to normal at least until next spring.
We're publishing a guest post today by Geoff Cox, co-founder of the campaign group Back to Normal, calling for the various anti-lockdown political parties to form a front populaire and take on pro-lockdown candidates.
Fully vaccinated Brits will not have to self-isolate after coming into contact with someone who has tested positive for Covid from August 16th. The Government has not granted the same change to unvaccinated Brits.
A number of major airlines, including Ryanair, easyJet and British Airways, will continue to force passengers to wear face masks on their planes after "Freedom Day".
Time for governments to abandon the idea that vaccination provides protection against infection, and thus any notion of vaccinating people to protect others or conferring special privileges on the vaccinated.
Despite being told that July 19th would be a "terminus date" for Covid restrictions in England, laws allowing local authorities to restrict businesses and social contact are staying in place until September – at least.
Estimates for the prevalence of long COVID range from 0.04% to 1.7%. Given all the evidence, those at the low end are more plausible, especially if we’re talking about something of clinical significance.
A summary of all the most interesting stories that have appeared about the virus in the past 24 hours – not just in Britain, but around the world.
