Portrait of the week: Storms rage, Covid curbs end and Russia’s ‘renewed invasion’

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Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, announced, in the House of Commons, sanctions against Russia after its ‘renewed invasion’ of Ukraine. These included the freezing of five banks’ assets and those of three Russian billionaires (Gennady Timchenko, Boris Rotenberg and his nephew Igor Rotenberg). The price of Brent crude oil reached a seven-year high of $99.38. A day earlier, the Prime Minister had told parliament that all coronavirus restrictions in England were to end on 24 February. People who tested positive for Covid would no longer be required by law to self-isolate, but would still be advised to stay at home. The £500 isolation payment for people on low incomes would also end but Covid provisions for increased statutory sick pay would apply for a further month. Free mass testing would stop from 1 April; Boots started selling tests for £5.99. The requirement remained for those arriving from abroad to complete passenger locator forms.