The UK government's plan to scrap day-to-day pandemic restrictions in England next week has no basis in science and amounts to premeditated murder for thousands of people, scientists have warned.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said this week it was “highly probable” the worst of the coronavirus pandemic is over as he pressed ahead with Monday's reopening, despite the Delta variant spreading out of control, according to AFP.

“I've written that I believe that the strategy of herd immunity is actually murderous,” US scientist William Haseltine said. “It is knowledge that you are doing something that will result in thousands, and in some cases tens of thousands of people dying. It is a disaster as a policy,” he added.