Right-wing media welcomed the decision to lift restrictions.
The Sun tabloid predicted a "big bang reopening" and The Daily Telegraph wrote Mr Johnson "rips up COVID restrictions".
But the government's emphasis on personal judgment was met with concern by scientists, who worry that hospitals and medics could yet be stretched anew if the Delta variant runs amok or new strains emerge.
"Allowing people to make their own choices on this is, effectively, handing control of the safety of such spaces over to the least informed, least caring and indeed the most callous members of society," said Peter English, former chair of the British Medical Association Public Health Medicine Committee.