“Unavoidably, we’ve had a lot of state direction and control during the pandemic,” Lord Frost said at an event in London on Monday. “That cannot and must not last forever. And I’m glad that it is not.”

"I am very happy that free Britain, or at least merry England, is probably now the freest country in the world as regards Covid restrictions… No mask rules, no vaccine passports. Long may it remain so."

The UK has had three national lockdowns since the beginning of the pandemic last year, and a multi-tier system of regional restrictions. England lifted most restrictions on daily life in July, even as the daily infection rate was on the rise.

Some health experts and the opposition have argued that certain restrictive measures should have been retained or should be re-imposed, as the daily caseload remains high. At the same time, around 88% of the population has received at least one dose of the vaccine, and over 80% has received two doses.

Nearly 45,000 new Covid-19 cases were reported across the UK on Monday. Despite the high daily caseload, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday that the government sees “nothing in the data” at the moment to re-impose restrictive measures.

“The best single thing you can all do is get your booster,” Johnson said.