Prime minister caught between scientific advisers and his sceptical cabinet over action on Omicron
New Covid restrictions are unlikely to be imposed before Christmas amid deep cabinet divisions butwarned further measures remain on the table, with data on the threat of Omicron monitored “hour by hour”.
With some people having already departed on Christmas breaks, government sources told the Guardian that fresh curbs were unlikely to be imposed before 25 December – though an announcement could be made in coming days on rules to be brought in before New Year’s Eve. Johnson said hospitalisations were rising “quite steeply” in London, where Omicron has hit hardest so far, adding that while he understood the strain on hospitality firms, the current plan B restrictions “can be very helpful to us and the country” at slowing the spread of the variant.
She urged ministers to “follow Sage advice and return to step two of the roadmap immediately to prevent thousands of infections over the coming days and then monitor the situation hour by hour so that measures can be lifted as quickly as possible, hopefully even in time to enable limited household mixing over Christmas weekend”.
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