England is set to remove the legal requirement for people with COVD-19 to isolate at home sometime in  February, a month earlier than had originally been planned.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson told Parliament today that he plans to remove this rule shortly after MPs return from recess on 21st February.

“It is my intention to return on the first day after the half-term recess to present our strategy for living with COVID,” he said.

“Providing the current encouraging trends in the data continue, it is my expectation that we will be able to end the last domestic restrictions, including the legal requirement to self-isolate if you test positive, a full month early.”

A Downing Street spokesperson later confirmed that they aren’t encouraging people who are sick with the virus to go to work but will remove the legal obligation.

“Obviously in the same way that we wouldn’t recommend that someone with flu goes to work, we would never recommend anyone goes to work when they have an infectious disease,” they said.

Several European countries are currently easing COVID-19 restrictions, with Sweden ending mass testing and Denmark allowing people to leave the house four days after testing positive so long as they’re asymptomatic.

Malta is taking a more gradual approach, with the next step set to be the removal of vaccine certificate entry rules for bars, gyms, spas, pools, cinemas and theatres on 14th February. 

On 21st February, Malta could cut quarantine for primary contacts of positive cases from seven to five days. As it stands, the authorities have given no indication that they plan to loosen or scrap the two-week quarantine for people who test positive for the virus.