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Shoppers and commuters snubbed calls to continue wearing masks today after a raft of Covid curbs in England including compulsory face coverings and ‘vaccine passports’ were scrapped.
Supermarkets including Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Asda and Waitrose, and Transport for London are still insisting customers ‘do the right thing’ and cover their faces despite Covid cases, hospitalisations and deaths all tumbling in the past 24 hours.
People at a Tesco superstore in Slough, Berkshire and an Asda in Kings Heath, south Birmingham chose not to wear masks today.
Shoppers at the Bentall Centre in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey told MailOnline that they would continue wearing masks ‘until the virus has been defeated’.
One person called face coverings ‘the best way to protect ourselves’ and insisted ‘there is no harm in it’. Another said: ‘I don’t want to get the virus’. And a fourth piped up: ‘How hard is it if your personal health is at risk? It is not really much of a hardship.’
However, large numbers of commuters at Liverpool Street Station and Waterloo in London chose to keep wearing face coverings.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan has said masks will remain mandatory on TfL services, webpage calling on people to ‘do the right thing’. The Labour figure has warned that face coverings will remain a ‘condition of carriage’ on Tubes, buses, Overground trains, trams or river boats – meaning people without masks may be denied travel unless exempt.
TfL has warned that ‘those who do not wear face coverings may be prevented from using our services or asked to leave the network’. But the threat of being fined if people don’t cover their faces has been dropped because it will be no longer legally enforceable.
And legal experts today warned that shops cannot make people comply with their mask rules without potentially breaching the Equality Act.
Amid fears of mixed messaging, retailers have been urged to communicate their masks policy clearly. James Lowman, chief executive of the Association of Convenience Stores, warned: ‘Covid-related abuse, especially around the wearing of face coverings, has been a significant problem for retailers and colleagues throughout the pandemic’.
Boris Johnson’s critics have accused the embattled Prime Minister of axing Omicron measures in a bid to appease his restless backbench as Westminster braces for Cabinet Office mandarin Sue Gray’s much-anticipated report into the ‘Partygate’ drama.
But writing on Twitter today, the Tory leader warned ‘the pandemic is not over’ and told people to ‘remain cautious’. He also urged ‘anyone who hasn’t yet got their vaccine to come forward’.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman, when asked about masks, said it will now be ‘a matter of personal judgment’. But public health guidance urging people to wear a face covering in crowded and enclosed spaces if coming into contact strangers will remain in place.
And rail operators also said passengers would be expected to wear face coverings, with the Rail Delivery Group saying train firms will ask customers to wear masks ‘out of courtesy to others’.
Also from today, a legal requirement for NHS Covid passes – dubbed ‘vaccine passports’ by lockdown sceptics – for entry to nightclubs and large events in England has been scrapped.
The Department for Education has also removed national guidance on the use of face coverings in communal areas of educational settings. And limits on the number of visitors to care homes in England are being scrapped from Monday.
The latest rolling back of restrictions follows the axing of WFH guidance last week, and advice for face coverings in classrooms for staff and pupils being scrapped.
As the virus crisis enters its latest stage:
Network Rail is offering complimentary snacks and coffee to Britain’s train commuters in a bid to lure staff away from WFH;
EasyJet said Omicron and Covid restrictions hit passenger demand for global travel last month;
Anti-vaxxers stormed a vaccination centre in Ealing and accused NHS staff of ‘genocide’ as they demanded the site be shutdown;
The PM is set to admit ‘serious mistakes’ over the lockdown party scandal as he battles to persuade MPs that he should keep his job;
But Cabinet ministers insisted Mr Johnson would not need to resign if he was interviewed under caution because ‘people are innocent until proved guilty’;
Daily Covid cases, hospitalisations and deaths all tumbled in the past 24 hours, official data showed;
Experts sought to calm fears about menstrual changes from Covid vaccines, insisting they are temporary and don’t leave women infertile;
Tens of thousands of people in Germany protested the country’s new Covid restrictions and proposals to make vaccination mandatory.
An elderly female shopper pushing a trolley in a Sainsbury’s store in Kings Heath went without a mask
Some shoppers at a Sainsbury’s supermarket in Vauxhall, London today went without a face mask
Some commuters chose not to wear masks at Liverpool Street station today. But most people kept wearing face coverings
Most commuters at Waterloo station in London this morning continued to wear face masks despite curbs being axed
Large numbers of commuters at Liverpool train station in London this morning continued wearing face coverings
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Shoppers leaving a Tesco superstore in Slough, Berkshire without wearing face masks
A male shopper is seen not wearing a mask at a Tesco Express in Kings Heath, Birmingham
Shoppers leaving a Tesco superstore in Slough, Berkshire without wearing face masks
Shoppers wearing facemasks in London’s Oxford Street, as Plan B measures are lifted in England today
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