Face masks will be a 'personal choice' in England: UK minister
Jul 04, 2021
London [UK], July 4 : As the United Kingdom is easing coronavirus restrictions, face masks are set to become a "personal choice" in England, a UK minister said on Sunday.
Quoting Sky News, CNN reported that Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick said: "I don't particularly want to wear a mask, I don't think a lot of people enjoy doing it."
"We will be moving into a phase though, where these will be matters of personal choice and so some members of society will want to do so for perfectly legitimate reasons, but it will be a different period where we as private citizens make these judgments rather than the government telling you what to do," Jenrick added reported CNN.
The UK government is currently considering whether to lift all remaining restrictions on social contact on July 19. The government's new Health Secretary Sajid Javid has signalled that he would like to ease coronavirus restrictions.
"We are on track for July 19 and we have to be honest with people about the fact that we cannot eliminate Covid," Javid wrote in an article for a newspaper.
"We also need to be clear that cases are going to rise significantly. I know many people will be cautious about the easing of restrictions -- that's completely understandable. But no date we choose will ever come without risk, so we have to take a broad and balanced view. We are going to have to learn to accept the existence of Covid and find ways to cope with it -- just as we already do with flu."
Javid said the "rules that we have had to put in place have caused a shocking rise in domestic violence and a terrible impact on so many people's mental health."
Prime Minister Boris Johnson is reviewing "very positive" data ahead of his decision on the next step in England's coronavirus roadmap, CNN reported quoting Jenrick.
Britain has reported another 24,248 coronavirus cases in the latest 24-hour period, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 4,903,434, according to official figures released Sunday, reported Xinhua.
The country also recorded another 15 coronavirus-related deaths. The total number of coronavirus-related deaths in Britain now stands at 128,222. These figures only include the deaths of people who died within 28 days of their first positive test.
