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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson tonight pushed the button on Plan B coronavirus curbs amid fears that Omicron could be causing 1,000 hospital admissions a day by the end of the year.
At a Downing Street press conference, the PM declared that people should once again work from home where possible, as well as extending use of masks and introducing Covid passports for nightclubs.
But Mr Johnson faces an uphill struggle to win over the public with No10 itself in meltdown over allegations of an illegal Christmas party a year ago.
The premier said it was necessary to move to Plan B to ‘buy time’ for the NHS and to learn more about the new strain.
‘It has become increasingly clear that Omicron is growing much faster than the previous Delta variant and is spreading rapidly all around the world,’ he said.
While 568 cases had been confirmed in the UK ‘the true number is certain to be much higher’ – potentially as many as 10,000.
‘Most worryingly, there is evidence that the doubling time of Omicron could currently be between two and three days.’
Masks will be required in venues such as cinemas and theatres from Friday, but hospitality will be exempt.
Mr Johnson said that negative lateral flow tests will be acceptable as well as NHS Covid passports at venues such as nightclubs and large events.
‘We will give businesses a week’s notice so this will come into force in a week’s time,’ he said.
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The PM said from Monday people should go to workplace if they ‘must’ but work from home ‘if you can’.
Mr Johnson paid tribute to his former spokeswoman Allegra Stratton, who resigned this afternoon after a bombshell video emerged of her giggling about a potentially lockdown-busting festive gathering in Downing Street a year ago.
He said there was ‘no excuse’ for the ‘frivolity’ that aides had displayed in the footage, but said Ms Stratton had been a ‘fine colleague’ and contributed to the COP26 summit.
Pushed repeatedly on why people should listen to his urging when his own staff were accused of flouting rules, the PM said: ‘The British people… can see the vital importance of the medical information that we are giving. They can see the need to take it to heart and to act on it.’
Johnson also flatly denied that the Plan B announcement had been brought forward as a ‘dead cat’ tactic to distract attention from the party scandal. He said the impact of the variant had become ‘unmissable’.
The PM said there would be ‘proper sanctions’ if the Cabinet Secretary found staff had broken lockdown rules, but he said ‘all the evidence I can see is that people within this building have stayed within the rules’.
Medical chief Chris Whitty told the press conference that the public should ‘separate’ the issues at No10 from the ‘logic’ of what they were being urged to do.
He also tried to reassure Britons that the struggle against Covid is not ‘back to square one’.
Mr Johnson said there was a ‘strong possibility’ that it would soon become clear that a booster jab on top of previous vaccination will be able to hold Omicron ‘in equilibrium’ so the country can ‘move forward’.
And he insisted that there is no need to cancel school nativity plays or taking children out before the end of term.
Christmas parties can go ahead with everyone ‘exercising due caution’, the premier said. He added that ‘getting a test before you go’ would be sensible.
In advice that seemed to force Mr Johnson’s hand, SAGE has warned it is ‘highly likely’ Omicron will make up the majority of British infections within ‘a few weeks’ and put ‘unsustainable pressure’ on the NHS.
Leaked minutes from SAGE’s emergency meeting today, seen by the BBC, showed that the group also expect the highly-evolved strain to trigger several thousand admissions per day at a peak in January if it is allowed to spread unchecked.
The ‘Covid O’ Cabinet committee met for crunch talks this afternoon before the Cabinet signed off on plans for a blanket order to work from home where possible, more mask-wearing, vaccine passports and stricter isolation rules for close contacts of infected people.
But the crisis comes at the same time as the Prime Minister faces increasing hostility from his own party in light of claims Downing Street staff held a lockdown-breaking Christmas party in No10 last year, while millions were unable to see their loved ones.
In another grim sign for Mr Johnson, Health Secretary Sajid Javid was heckled by Tories in the Commons as he made a statement laying out the changes.
One MP shouted ‘resign’ as he announced the move on Covid passports – which are particularly unpopular among a certain section of the government benches.
One response to “IT NEVER ENDS: Boris Johnson confirms return of working from home”
In light of the above report, are United Kingdom (UK) tourists still being allowed to enter Antigua and Barbuda?