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The Test, Trace & Isolate system is set to stay until at least next year despite alarm over rising numbers of healthy people being doomed to house arrest.
Details of the 'Freedom Day' plans issued by the government overnight make clear that the regime will be 'necessary through the autumn and winter'.
The documents also say exemptions from isolation for the double-jabbed and children are only 'likely to come into effect later in the summer', despite Sajid Javid previously specifying August 16.
The timetable will fuel concerns about whether England is really heading back towards normality after the July 19 unlocking.
Ministers have warned that daily cases could top 100,000 by next month - raising the prospect that millions of close contacts of the infected will be 'pinged' and ordered to isolate for up to 10 days.
The hospitality industry has already been complaining that the level of staff absence risks making it impossible for some businesses to operate.
Boris Johnson last night pulled the trigger on the legal unlocking, but warned Covid curbs could return in September if new freedoms are abused.
Mr Johnson called for continued mask-wearing in busy indoor settings such as trains, supermarkets and cinemas. And he urged firms not to order staff back to their desks despite the lifting of the formal 'work from home guidance'.
The Prime Minister also dropped his claim that the unlocking would be 'irreversible'. Asked whether restrictions could return, he said he hoped they would not but added: 'We must rule nothing out.'
Boris Johnson last night pulled the trigger on the legal unlocking, but warned Covid curbs
