The UK is only doing that because the PM has been so fragile because he's screwed up covid related things for so long he needs the backbenchers. They're also super desperate because they left the European Union and that is also having a terrible effect on the economy. Copying the UK is not a clever idea.
The news coverage here seems to treat anything the government does as the wrong thing just because they've done it though. For example, healthcare workers in England will be required to be vaccinated soon unless the government changes its mind, and the whole media has been on a push against it, including the BBC making their top headline on the news front page an article about how terrible it was and uncritically regurgitating the Welsh government's claims that it's pointless and counterproductive (they have no such mandate, but required vaccinations for nightclubs when England didn't). Now, this makes no scientific sense - healthcare is basically the one place where Covid vaccination to protect others is actually justifiable, given that they're interacting with high-risk patients who can't be fully protected by vaccination. It makes perfect political sense though, and based on past form the moment the government abandons this the media will immediately flip to supporting it.
The argument is that since the vaccination rate is so high and the effect of omicron is considered mild, the outcomes are not no longer considered server enough to qualify for general restrictions.
There will still be targeted restrictions, such as in the elder care. Time will tell if that will be enough and if the health care system will manage.
> Although it no longer believes Covid-19 should be classed a critical threat to society, some measures to limit transmission are still beneficial, it said.
Is quote I found while looking into this. It seems like they're not opening up completely, they're just removing a bunch of rules. There is still talk of large events possibly needing proof of vacination.
This information is super new and what actually happens and how they actually do it is yet to be fully confirmed as far as I can tell.
Edit: Also important they have 77 people in ICU in the entire country. Where as Berlin alone has 186.
