The government has dropped compulsory mask rules in England – but that doesn’t mean you can throw away your stash of face coverings for good.
A number of businesses and transport companies are still urging customers to use them, including supermarkets.
Plan B measures, which also include Covid passports for some venues and events, have all been scrapped from today.
Health secretary Sajid Javid said the success of the vaccine programme, coupled with a better understanding of treatment for the virus, is ‘allowing us to cautiously return to plan A, restoring more freedoms to this country’.
The prime minister has called mask-wearing ‘a matter of personal judgement’ but businesses are still permitted to encourage the practice.
Public health guidance urging people to wear them in crowded and enclosed spaces when meeting strangers also remains in place.
The British Retail Consortium has urged people ‘to be considerate to those around them when choosing whether to wear a face covering and to respect the decision of other customers’.
But Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and John Lewis are three big names which have gone further and stated they’ll continue to ask shoppers to cover their faces inside.
The Rail Delivery Group, which represents trains firms across the country, said its members will continue to advise people wear masks ‘out of courtesy to others’.
The same will remain the case on Transport for London services, with mayor Sadiq Khan calling on people to ‘do the right thing’.
Shop workers’ union Usdaw welcomed the retention of Covid-safety measures in some stores, as its general secretary Paddy Lillis branded as ‘deeply disappointing’ the end to mandatory face coverings in shops ‘despite the concerns of shop workers’.
From Thursday, the Department for Education has also removed national guidance on the use of face coverings in communal areas of educational settings.
The government had already scrapped rules on masks in classrooms, as well as guidance to adults to work from home if possible.
Boris Johnson has set out a target to remove the need for legally-enforced self-isolation for confirmed Covid-19 cases by March 24.
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