PM Johnson pleads for caution as 'Freedom Day' arrives in England

Prime Minister Boris Johnson ends more than a year of COVID-19 lockdown restrictions in England on Monday, urging the public to remain cautious but putting his faith in vaccines to protect the country even as infections are surging.

On what local media have dubbed "Freedom Day", Johnson's decision to lift regulations in favour of restarting an economy damaged by a series of on-off lockdowns since March 2020 marks a new chapter in the global response to the coronavirus.

If the vaccines continue to prove effective in reducing severe illness and deaths even while infections reach record levels, Johnson's decision could inform other highly vaccinated countries' approach to returning to normal.

But the strategy comes with risks - most notably that a variant capable of resisting vaccines could emerge, or that the caseload could grow so severe that the economy grinds to a halt. Given that, Johnson has urged the public to take a cautious approach to the reopening.