LONDON – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced what he called England’s “journey back to normal” on Monday, outlining a roadmap that could see most restrictions lifted in June.
The UK has one of the worst Covid-19 mortality rates in the world and has suffered more economic damage in the past year than almost any other country.
Johnson was accused of repeatedly imposing blockages too late and suspending them too early. But this time he has what he hopes will be a secret weapon: one of the most successful vaccination campaigns in the world.
“The end is really in sight,” he told the House of Commons. “A miserable year will give way to a spring and summer that will be very different and incomparably better than the image we see around us today.”
He said that “the vaccination program has dramatically changed the odds in our favor and it is on that basis that we can proceed.”
Johnson oversees health policy in England and said he has been in contact with the leaders of the other three members of the UK – Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland – where similar measures will be announced.
These leaders dictate their own health policies, which often differ slightly from those in England.
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The UK currently has the most rigid blocking measures in the developed world, according to a tracker compiled by the University of Oxford’s Blavatnik School of Government.
Current restrictions were imposed on January 4, fueled at least in part by the new, more communicable variant that is now sweeping the United States and elsewhere.
For almost two months, British pubs, restaurants and non-essential stores have been closed, schools are closed to most students and offices are off limits to many people, indoor and outdoor meetings are prohibited and holidays abroad are illegal.
Although Johnson was initially reluctant to lock up his country, people close to him say his attitude has hardened since then, perhaps motivated by his own contact with the virus and the number of deaths in his country.
On Monday, Johnson said the country will open in four stages, each dependent on continued vaccination, hospitalizations not increasing and new variants not emerging to make the plans unfeasible.
Schools will reopen on March 8, he said, and people can meet a friend or relative outdoors; on March 29, six people can meet outdoors and amateur outdoor sports can resume; on April 12, non-essential retail, hairdressers and manicurists, gyms and bars and open-air restaurants can reopen; on May 17, families can see friends and family indoors; and on June 21, the government will review the removal of all legal limits to social contact, as well as the resumption of nightclubs and major public events.
Last year, the Johnson administration suffered a torrent of criticism for its blocking strategy: doing yo-yoing between imposing and suspending restrictions in an attempt to balance the deaths and the economy – but in the end it did not achieve either.
More than 120,000 people died in the UK, higher per capita than in the USA
But while Johnson’s popularity plummeted last year, in the past few months she has recovered, driven by a vaccination campaign that has placed the United Kingdom among the world’s leaders.
The UK gave almost 27 injections per 100 people, compared to 19 in the US, according to data from the University of Oxford.
Still, some experts are concerned that the UK is repeating the mistakes of the past in ending the blockade before cases fall further.
“Do you sometimes feel like you’re stuck in one of those films where you know about a disaster that is going to happen and live the same day over and over again trying to avoid it and failing each time?” tweeted Deepti Gurdasani, epidemiologist at Queen Mary University of London.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
