Boris: We can ride this out
He rules out more curbs – but Tory MPs call for cut to five days’ self-isolation to ease UK’s jobs paralysis
BRITAIN can ‘ride out’ the Omicron wave without another lockdown, Boris Johnson insisted last night.
The Prime Minister said there was a ‘good chance’ that further crippling restrictions could be avoided, provided people continue to be ‘cautious’ and get their booster jabs.
But, with cases topping 200,000 a day and almost 1.3million people thought to be self-isolating, there were growing fears last night that vital services could grind to a halt.
And the PM faced calls from Tory MPs to go further by easing current curbs, including the sevenday self-isolation rule for those who test positive.
Speaking at a No10 press conference, the PM said there was ‘no escaping the fact that some services will be disrupted by staff absences’. He said the NHS had been placed on a ‘war footing’ and would face a rocky few weeks, but added: ‘We have to get through it as best we possibly can.’
Mr Johnson was determined to take a ‘balanced’ approach, recognising the ‘painful’ effect of lockdowns on people’s lives and livelihoods and the ‘social damage, damage to people’s mental health as well as damage to the economy’ that tighter curbs would cause.
But Tory MPs pushing for selfisolation to be cut to five days or scrapped warned that Britain was already facing ‘semi-lockdown’.
And there were calls for the PM to publish an ‘exit plan’ from existing Covid restrictions, which look certain to continue for weeks, if not months. The Cabinet will today be asked to approve the continua
‘Some services will be disrupted’
tion of the Government’s Covid ‘Plan B’ measures for at least another three weeks, including working from home, mandatory mask wearing and Covid passports for nightclubs and large venues.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid is expected to confirm later that no new rules will be introduced in England, despite another grim new Covid case record yesterday.
It came as:
■ Chief Medical Office Sir Chris Whitty said evidence was growing that Omicron was milder than previous strains, and predicted pressure on intensive care would be lower than previous waves;
■ Mr Javid rejected calls to reduce self-isolation rules from the current seven days, saying: ‘We are not looking to change that.’;
■ The PM warned that people would face increasing restrictions on travel abroad unless they have their booster jab.
■ Daily cases hit a record 218,724, although daily deaths stood at 48;
■ Mr Johnson voiced frustration at the failure of some to come forward for their boosters, describing the situation as ‘crazy’.
■ Former Brexit minister Lord Frost joined the Covid Recovery Group, which has led rebellions against Government policy.
■ Ministers prepared to lift the need to take a pre-departure test before travelling to the UK;
■ The PM announced that 100,000 ‘critical’ workers in sectors such as food production, transport and policing will be offered daily tests to prevent services being closed.
■ Ministers were asked to identify roles that troops could fill to keep vital services going;
■ Figures revealed almost a third of those listed as being in hospital with Covid were being primarily treated for other conditions.
Welsh Secretary Simon Hart last night said the Government deserved praise for resisting calls to tighten rules over New Year, as happened in Scotland and Wales.
‘The Cabinet decision to not shut down the economy (again) just before Christmas took nerve,’ he said. ‘As well as economic factors, we gave significant weight to mental health and behavioural implications of further restrictions.’ But some Tory MPs questioned the need for existing restrictions to remain in place.
Former minister Steve Baker, deputy chairman of the Covid Recovery Group of MPs, urged ministers to set out a timetable for lifting all restrictions. He said: ‘When are we going to shut down test and trace? People should only be isolating if they have symptoms. When are we going to repeal the Covid certification laws and the Coronavirus Act and accept that we have to live with Covid?’
The PM praised the public for behaving with restraint over Christmas, and said it remained ‘a moment for the utmost caution’. But he said the rapid rollout of booster jabs should prevent the need for another damaging lockdown this winter.
‘Together with the Plan B measures that we introduced before Christmas, we have a chance to ride out this Omicron wave without shutting down our country once again,’ he said.
‘We can keep our schools and our businesses open and we can find a way to live with this virus.’ Pressed on whether further curbs will be needed, Mr Johnson said it would depend how quickly Omicron ‘blows through’. ‘I would say we have a good chance of getting through the Omicron wave without the need for further restrictions and without the need certainly for a lockdown,’ he added. Sir Chris warned that ‘some hospitals, some areas of the country’ would come under ‘very substantial pressure over the next couple of weeks’ with high numbers of staff isolating over infections compounding usual winter pressures.
Schools are also set to feel the strain, with some sources suggesting one in ten teachers could be absent as the new term begins.
Professor Neil Ferguson, the Imperial College London academic whose data was instrumental to the first lockdown in March 2020, said infection rates may already be plateauing in London and could fall across Britain within weeks.
‘We have to live with Covid’