UK drops COVID-19 restrictions, scraps mandatory face masks

Face masks will no longer be mandatory in public places and schools in England and COVID-19 passports will be dropped in large parts of the country starting next Thursday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced in parliament on Wednesday. Johnson told lawmakers that the restrictions were being eased because of the “extraordinary booster campaign“ as well as because government scientists believed it was likely that the surge of Omicron infections “has now peaked nationally.“ “We will trust the judgment of the British people and no longer criminalize anyone who chooses not to wear one,” Johnson said on masks.