Shielding to end for almost four million Britons

Nearly four million people will no longer be asked to shield to protect themselves from the serious side-effects of Covid-19 from April 1 (Jane Barlow/PA)

Nearly four million people will no longer be asked to shield to protect themselves from the serious side-effects of Covid-19 as of Thursday.

An initial list of 2.2 million clinically extremely vulnerable people were advised to take the measure to avoid potential infection, and 1.7 million more were added to the list in February.