That brings to an end our rolling coverage of today's Covid news.

You can read our main story on the end of legal restrictions in England on Thursday - and the end of free mass testing in April - here.

Today’s live page was written by Becky Morton, Joshua Nevett, Doug Faulkner, Justin Parkinson and Lauren Turner. It was edited by Claire Heald, Owen Amos and Kevin Ponniah.

Many thanks for reading.

Image source, PA Media

Boris Johnson, Sir Patrick Vallance, and Sir Chris Whitty spent almost an hour giving statements and answering questions.

Here are the main points:

• Confirming the end of all legal restrictions in England from Thursday, Johnson warned the pandemic was not over - but said this was a "moment of pride" for the country
• The prime minister said vulnerable people should be treated with the "utmost consideration" and, as with any symptomatic disease, people should try to avoid spreading it
• But he also urged people to return to workplaces "with confidence"
• And he said the cost of the mass free testing scheme, which ends in England in April, was "vast" - with last year's Test and Trace budget higher than the Home Office's
• England's chief medical officer Prof Chris Whitty said the advice - although not the law - is still to isolate if you catch Covid, just as with many other viruses
• Chief scientific adviser Patrick Vallance warned further variants of Covid are expected - and they could be more severe

Pandemic politics in 2022published at 20:07 Greenwich Mean Time 21 February 2022

20:07 GMT 21 February 2022

Chris Mason
Political Correspondent

Compared to previous variants, Omicron hasn't proved deadly for as many people.

And testing is hugely expensive. Governments all over the world will have to take this decision at some point.

But make no mistake - this is going down very well with Boris Johnson's backbenchers, at just the point that they hold his fate in their hands like never before.

The leading voice in the Covid Recovery Group of Conservative MPs Mark Harper joked that it sounded like the PM was joining their number - a collection of backbenchers sceptical about some of the restrictions.

It far from guarantees Boris Johnson's survival when the partygate rows flare up again. But it won't do him any harm.

The scientists are asked whether there is a danger of giving the public mixed messages by ending self-isolation and universal free Covid testing.

Prof Whitty says public health messaging is much more difficult when there is a "transition" but we have to accept we need to "change the way we think about things".

He stresses that mandation is an issue for politicians and separate to public health advice.

And with that final question the news conference ends - and Johnson says he is off to speak to the president of Ukraine about the ongoing crisis.

The prime minister is asked whether scrapping universal free tests will add to the cost of living crisis.

In response, Johnson says the change to the testing regime won't come through for a few weeks, by which point the government hopes and expects incidence of Covid will have further declined, so the impact on people will be minimal.

He adds that having a strong economy is the "single best protection" against the cost of living crisis - and this would not have been possible if the government hadn't opened up the economy last summer.

Asked whether it is hypocritical for him to ask people to take personal responsibility when he is under police investigation for breaking lockdown rules, Johnson says he cannot comment on these allegations.

When asked if it's worth continuing to take regular Covid tests, Prof Whitty outlines three situations in which it might be sensible.

The first, he says, is "how common is Covid at the moment". "If it’s very high, absolutely, that increases probability," Whitty says.

The second factor is the "environment you're in". "If you’re in a crowded environment, absolutely," he says.

And a test would be necessary before "mixing with vulnerable people", Whitty says.

"This is about minimising the risk to other people," he says.

Boris Johnson is asked what his message is to those who are reluctant to return to their workplace.

He says he has always been a believer in the importance of people getting into work, particularly for younger people.

"I would encourage people to get back to work with confidence," he says.

The scientists are asked whether they are more anxious than confident about restrictions being dropped.

Sir Chris Whitty says he is neither anxious nor confident but instead hopes "we can go steadily in the right direction".

Sir Patrick Vallance adds: "The one thing this virus has taught you is not to be cocky" - saying the country needs to go carefully and be ready to react.

The prime minister says people shouldn't think there's a "division between gung-ho politicians and cautious, anxious scientists".

He adds that Covid has not gone away and there will likely be another variant "that will cause us trouble" - although he says vaccines and therapeutics put us in a better position to tackle this.

Next, ITV News’s political editor Robert Peston asks a question about the end of Covid isolation.

Peston asks Johnson if he would voluntarily quarantine if he tested positive for the virus after the requirement to self-isolate is lifted after 1 April.

The PM says he will “exercise restraint and responsibility” to avoid infecting other people.

Now onto questions from journalists.

BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg asks about ending mass testing - and whether the other UK nations will have to follow England's lead.

Boris Johnson says ending testing in April can only be done because of the high levels of immunity and relative weakness of Omicron - but says that the government will make sure vulnerable people continue to have access to free tests.

He says that we will continue to invest in surveillance, pointing to the ONS survey which will keep going.

"We want to have the keenest eyes in the crow's nest to watch for an iceberg in the form of a new variant," he says.

Prof Chris Whitty says there are three reasons for testing - surveillance, to guide clinical treatment and for control - the last of which is what is being scaled back.

Johnson is also asked about Russian President Vladimir Putin recognising breakaway republics in Ukraine and describes it as a "dark omen". You can read our live coverage on the ongoing crisis here.

Gemma, from Greater London, asks what the advice is for pregnant women like herself and other people who are more vulnerable to Covid.

Have they effectively been told to stay inside? she asks.

No, is Boris Johnson's response - but he says everybody who is vulnerable should be treated with the "utmost consideration".

"If we’re symptomatic with any disease you should treat vulnerable people with courtesy and avoid spreading it," he says.

Clinically vulnerable people will also continue to have access to tests and any therapeutics they need, the prime minister says.

Sir Chris Whitty adds that it is now really clear that vaccination in pregnancy is a very good thing for both the mother and her baby - and he urges pregnant women to get vaccinated.

Now to the Q&A session, beginning with members of the public. First to ask a question is Nicole from the West Midlands.

She says it appears that hospitalisations are at a similar level to that seen in October last year. “Should we put in place more measures to protect NHS?” she asks.

Johnson is first to reply. The big difference between then and now is the number of hospitalisations is on a "clear downward trend," he says.

"You’ll have seen the fatality numbers, which are different to what we’ve seen in previous waves."

He says high level of vaccine immunity has allowed the restrictions to be lifted.

Urging the public to continue to be cautious, Sir Patrick finishes by quoting an American colleague, who says: "You can celebrate when the sun's shining - but take your umbrella with you."

Sir Patrick says it is absolutely essential to have a good surveillance system to detect new variants.

The second thing that is important is to be able to respond quickly, he says, pointing at how quickly Omicron took off. He says it is important to be able to ramp up systems to respond quickly to new threats.

There is also a section of the population which is vulnerable at all itimes, he adds, and says it is important to protect them.

"Detect, respond and protect the most vulnerable is absolutely crucial during a period of reducing the measures that are in place," he says.

Sir Patrick Vallance begins to speak - he says the virus will continue to evolve quite quickly, probably for the next couple of years.

And there is no guarantee that the next variant will be of the same reduced severity as Omicron, he says.

We expect there to be further variants and they could be more severe, he adds.

Prof Whitty says that excess mortality is actually lower than you might expect on average at this time of year, compared with the years before the pandemic.

He says the impact on overall mortality has been "much more muted" and is "essentially not visible" compared to the previous waves of coronavirus.

But he says the Omicron wave is still high, with some places in the UK having one in 20 to one in 25 people having the infection, according to ONS data.

On the changes to the rules, Whitty says this is a steady move over a period of time as the rates are going down. "This is not a sudden everything stops," he says.

Two big reasons for removing restrictions and testingpublished at 19:16 Greenwich Mean Time 21 February 2022

19:16 GMT 21 February 2022

Chris Mason
Political Correspondent

There are two big reasons why the government has decided to act now in getting rid of the remaining coronavirus laws in England.

The first is the current picture: Omicron has proved to be very mild in terms of the number of people it is killing.

To use the technical term, there haven't been any excess deaths as a result of it, or, as Prof Chris Whitty has just put it, "the total number of deaths is slightly lower than the seasonal average at this time of year".

The second is cost: the prime minister has said the test, trace and isolation budget in the 2020/21 financial year exceeded the entire budget of the Home Office.

It has cost a further £15.7bn in this financial year - from last April until now - and a another £2bn in January of this year alone.

England's chief medical officer, Prof Chris Whitty, is now taking us through the latest data.

He says the number of people in hospital with Covid in the UK is "still significant" and this is still putting quite a lot of pressure on many hospitals.

However, he says the rates "have been going down steadily now for some weeks".