The country is on a path to normality as commuters return to the office, according to Boris Johnson.
National Rail shows a 10 per cent increase in rush hour travel compared to last week, with roads in some big cities becoming more busy after work from home guidance was ditched.
As well as his widely anticipated decision to remove Plan B measures, the prime minister made a surprise announcement yesterday that he hoped to end all Covid laws in March, meaning people testing positive would no longer be required to isolate.
As the risk of overwhelming the NHS recedes, the government needs to remove itself from managing people's risk Johnson said: "We hope that we revert to normality now on a route map." On a visit to a diagnostic centre in Taunton, he boasted of the enormous progress in dealing with the pandemic, saying that the booster campaign has enabled us to open up. We are moving back to plan A, moving back to the status quo, opening up our economy. The most open economy and society in Europe is the fastest growth in the G 7, as a result of that booster campaign. Johnson said that people can go back to work but stressed that it was important that people remain cautious in Network Rail figures, which showed that 303,000 people used its stations between 6 am and 10.30 am on Thursday, up 10 per cent on the same time last week. In London, 1.1 million people used the Tube before 10 am, up 8 per cent from a week ago.
The travel company TomTom said last week that the congestion levels were up and journeys took 72 per cent longer than on empty roads, up from 66 per cent last week. On Thursday, congestion levels in Manchester increased to 63 per cent from 56 per cent last week. The data from other cities was largely unchanged.
The rise began before Wednesday s decision to end plan B, with Google mobility data showing that visits to places of work were 23 per cent less than pre-pandemic levels on Monday, after starting the year 61 per cent lower.
The figures show that commuters have returned to pre-Omicron habits, with workplace attendance falling to 22 per cent below normal levels when plan B was imposed in December. At the height of the third national lockdown, work attendance was 46 per cent below normal levels last year.
As the government tries to phase out Covid laws, people will increasingly be asked to rely on personal judgement, according to Sajid Javid, health secretary. He said that he was optimistic about ending requirements for people with the virus to isolate when emergency powers expire on March 24.
He told the BBC that we do want to see a time as soon as possible to remove all remaining rules and restrictions around Covid, because we do have to learn to live with the virus in the same way we have learned to live with it, for example, with the flu.
Professor Graham Medley, a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, said it was important that the government kept access to information, vaccine and treatments so that people could manage their own risk, despite the fact that some people have questioned the timing of the announcement.
He said that the passing of responsibility for risk management from government to individual is a requirement for the transition of the epidemic into endemic.
The government s major risk is over-running of healthcare, and when the government is satisfied that this risk has been avoided, it needs to remove itself from managing people's risk. Simon Williams, of Swansea University, criticised the government for sending out mixed messages on how people should behave. He said that the general advice to be cautious is too vague and conflicts with the message sent by the removal of all policy measures and protections.
As we saw in the summer, simply suggesting that people wear facemasks in certain settings is going to result in a significant drop-off in mask wearing. It is a problem that different countries in the UK put forward different policies and messages on things like masks and self-isolation requirements.