There’s nothing in the data to back new curbs say ministers
FRESH coronavirus curbs cannot be justified by the data, ministers said yesterday, as they faced pressure to repeal the current restrictions.
Cabinet minister Steve Barclay praised the public for taking ‘sensible steps’ to keep themselves and their families safe, while health minister Ed Argar said new measures would be the ‘absolute last resort’.
Another 137,583 coronavirus cases were reported in England and Wales yesterday – 40 per cent higher than a week ago, official figures showed. Another 73 deaths were recorded.
But the Government has been buoyed by several studies which suggest the Omicron variant is less severe than previous coronavirus strains. Asked to
‘The absolute last resort’
rule out more restrictions this week, Mr Barclay said: ‘We don’t think the data supports that at this stage – of course we keep the data under review.
‘But we have seen significant behaviour change as a result of Plan B.
‘The widespread use of testing is an illustration of the fact that the British public are taking sensible steps to keep themselves safe, to keep their friends and family safe.
‘That’s why there has been such a demand for testing in recent weeks, so that, combined with the booster programme, is the key way as a country we will avoid the need for further measures.’
Mr Argar said there was ‘nothing’ in the current data to suggest further restrictions were needed. ‘We need cool, calm heads,’ he told Times Radio. ‘We need to look at the data and we need to do everything possible to avoid any restrictions.
‘Restrictions or curbs must be the absolute last resort. I’m seeing nothing at the moment in the data I have in front of me, in the immediate situation, that suggests a need for further restrictions. But that data changes day by day.
‘I, the Prime Minister, the Secretary of State, are looking at that data every single day. And we keep a close eye on it.’
Boris Johnson will this week review the Plan B measures – including work from home guidance and vaccine passports – which were introduced last month. Government sources last night said they did not expect the restrictions to be overturned yet, but Tory MPs urged the Prime Minister to scrap them as soon as possible.
Backbencher Bob Blackman told the Daily Mail: ‘If the [positive] data continues, I think it needs to be reviewed not on a three-weekly basis but on a weekly basis. If the rest of this week we see more positive data come out, then why keep restrictions on that don’t need to be there?’
And senior Tory Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown said he wanted ministers to remove the Plan B measures ‘as soon as it is prudent to do so.’
Meanwhile, the public sector has been asked to prepare for a worst-case scenario of up to a quarter of staff off work.
The Cabinet Office said that, so far, disruption caused by Omicron had been controlled in ‘most parts of the public sector’.
But it said leaders had been asked to test plans against 10 per cent, 20 per cent and 25 per cent workforce absence rates.
Of the move, Mr Argar said: ‘What you’re talking about there is Government doing the responsible and sensible thing of preparing for a range of contingencies, making sure that it considers all possible eventualities, even those that are at the very high end of the scale.’