Last week, while unveiling the Living With COVID strategy, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said England was exiting the “grimmest years in our peacetime”. His statement underpinned how the UK’s aggressive Coronavirus-mitigation strategies had made it the freest country in Europe. Health Secretary Sajid Javid went as far as calling February 24, 2022, as Freedom Day after the government scrapped all remaining emergency COVID laws after two years of crippling lockdowns—no face masks in London’s public transport, no five-day isolation after testing positive. 

A similar situation is gradually panning out in the US, where all states but one—Hawaii—have dropped the mask mandate, or have announced plans to do so in coming weeks. The infection rates have been steadily falling on the home front too, prompting the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to announce its decision to ease almost all restrictions in the city in the coming days, besides wearing a mask at public places. Currently, restaurants, theatres, gyms and auditoriums are working at 50 per cent capacity. Last week, the Bombay High Court hearing public interest litigations challenging the prohibition on use of local trains by unvaccinated people, said such a prohibition was illegal. Will the state executive committee lift the restriction? On Friday, Mumbai reported 128 new COVID-19 cases.