Hackney’s mayor has slammed the prime minister’s decision to scrap free Covid testing.
Mayor Philip Glanville described plans to end free Covid testing as “wrong and unsupported by the science or medical professionals”.
Prime minister Boris Johnson detailed his strategy for “living with Covid” in England to the Commons late on Monday afternoon (February 21) after a cabinet disagreement thought to be centred on funding for future surveillance of the virus.
Under the plans set out, people who test positive for coronavirus will no longer be legally required to isolate from Thursday (February 24), and free universal testing will end in April.
Those who receive a positive Covid-19 test will still be advised to stay at home for at least five days but will not be obliged to under law under the plans subject to parliamentary approval.
The mayor, however, insisted that Hackney Council’s priority is to keep residents and staff safe.
He added: “We are deeply concerned about the timing and data behind today’s statement, and we will study the detailed guidance when we receive it.
“Covid-19 remains a serious disease that can leave people with long-term complications, and case rates in Hackney remain exceptionally high.
“We can’t simply wish this disease away, as much as we’d like to.”
Routine contact tracing will also end on Thursday, as will self-isolation payments and the legal obligation for individuals to tell their employers about their requirement to isolate.
Changes to statutory sick pay and employment support allowance designed to help people through the coronavirus pandemic will end on March 24.
People aged 75 and over, the immunosuppressed and those living in care homes will be offered another Covid-19 booster vaccine this spring under the plans.
But free universal testing will be massively scaled back from April 1 and will instead be focused on the most vulnerable, with the UK Health Security Agency set to determine the details, while a degree of asymptomatic testing will continue in the high-risk settings such as in social care.
But the Department of Health and Social Care will receive no extra money to deliver the testing.
The mayor was critical of “dismantling” Hackney’s “excellent” testing system, describing the move as “like putting Covid-19 on autopilot without a map”.
He said: “It’s a premature step that may make it harder to live with Covid, not easier.”
The mayor added that low-vaccination rates and deprivation in the borough could mean many Hackney residents are negatively impacted by the plans.
Hackney has a high proportion of residents who cannot afford to pay for tests and many work in informal, insecure jobs where they may feel pressured and unable to self-isolate voluntarily.
In the borough, 46 per cent of residents over 16 have had a booster dose of a Covid vaccine.
Meanwhile, yesterday afternoon Mr Johnson warned the “pandemic is not over”, with the Queen’s positive test a “reminder this virus has not gone away”.
But he told MPs it was time to “move from government restrictions to personal responsibility”, with “sufficient levels of immunity to complete the transition” from laws to relying on vaccines and treatments.
“It is time that we got our confidence back. We don’t need laws to compel people to be considerate to others. We can rely on that sense of responsibility towards one another,” Mr Johnson said.
“So let us learn to live with this virus and continue protecting ourselves and others without restricting our freedoms.”
The cabinet was due to sign off on the plan on Monday morning, but the meeting was pushed back to the afternoon at the last minute, with the delay understood to centre on Health Secretary Sajid Javid’s demands over how elements would be funded.
The chaos surrounding the policy, which should help shore up Mr Johnson’s support on the Tory backbenches by ending the remaining legal restrictions in a nation that has lived under measures for nearly two years, came as the PM’s authority was undermined by the partygate scandal.
But No 10 ultimately said the cabinet gave the strategy its “unanimous backing” after a virtual meeting in the afternoon.
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