Boris Johnson has refused to rule out further restrictions before Xmas.
Visiting a vaccination centre this morning, he was repeatedly asked by reporters if he would rule out more measures this side of Christmas, he said: “Throughout the pandemic I’ve been at great pains to stress to the public that we have to watch where the pandemic is going and we take whatever steps are necessary to protect public health,” he told reporters.
“We think the steps that we are taking – so Plan B, combined with a hugely ambitious acceleration of the booster campaign, bringing it forward by a month so we offer a booster to every adult by the end of the year – we think that’s the right approach.”
The UK Health Agency has confirmed that 10 people have been hospitalised with the Omicron variant in England.
They are spread around the country and ages range between 18-85 years and the majority had received 2 doses of vaccination.They also confirmed that one person in hospital had died.
Another 1,576 Omicron cases have been confirmed bringing the total number of cases of the new variant across the UK to 4,713.1,534 have been reported across England, 27 have been reported in Scotland and 15 are in Wales.
Meanwhile Labour Deputy Leader Angela Rayner has described the Government as reckless after COVID testing kits have run out on the government’s website
The Greater Manchester MP tweeted:
“Testing is absolutely vital in keeping us safe and allowing people to make safe choices. The government’s inability to procure properly and plan for civil contingencies is reckless. Boris Johnson has his priorities in the wrong place.”
However a Government spokesman said:
“There is no shortage of lateral flow tests. We have more than sufficient supply. What we are seeing is, because of the heightened demand today, those available to be posted out today, those slots have been filled already.We are working with the postal service and others to further increase slots.But it is important for people to understand if they do encounter trouble, they can go to their local pharmacy. The slots refresh daily.”
As work from home guidance comes into force today, Congestion levels have dropped in England’s busiest cities at 8am compared with the previous two Mondays, according to figures published by TomTom.
The levels in Manchester fell from 89% on 29 November and 82% on 6 December to 53% today while footfall at Manchester Picadally was down 20 per cent.
Long queues are forming at COVID vaccination centres and there are reports of the NHS booking site repeatedly crashing as people scramble to get their booster jabs ahead of Christmas following the Prime Minister’s announcement last night
On twitter Nicole Wootton-Cane wrote earlier this morning
8:02 at Etihad campus vaccination centre. Both walk-in and appointments queues already packed. Good to see so many people here to get their jabs though. If you’re hoping to get a walk-in appointment before Christmas, I’d recommend getting there nice and early!
Earlier doing the media rounds this morning The Health Secretary Sajid Javid urged the British public to “play your part” and get a COVID booster vaccine – warning that the UK is “once again in a race between the vaccine and the virus”.
The heath secretary told Kay Burley on Sky News that cases of Omicron are growing at a “phenomenal rate”, which is why the government is expanding the booster programme “to a level never seen before in this country”.
The plan is for jab centres to be open for at least 12 hours on every day of the Christmas holidays, apart from Christmas Day itself.
Javid went onto say that There are about 10 people in hospital with the variant but he dismissed claims this meant it was not a threat. “There is always a lag between infection and then hospitalisation and then, sadly, death,” he told Sky News. He also pointed out that a huge rise in infections would lead to more people going to hospital, even if most cases were mild.
