PM: No Plan B move until after half-term

BORIS Johnson has delayed a decision on whether fresh Covid curbs are needed until after halfterm in the hope the school break will halt the surge in cases.

Government sources say that ministers have been startled by the rapid spread of the virus among schoolchildren, where infection rates are up to ten times higher than among the wider population.

A source said ministers hoped that next week’s half-term holiday in England would break the increase in daily infections, which rose to more than 50,000 yesterday for the first time since July.

The Prime Minister yesterday said that he was sticking with the existing approach for now, despite a growing clamour from the medical profession to move to the Government’s ‘Plan B’.

The introduction of Plan B would see the return of mandatory face masks, the introduction of controversial vaccine passports and the revival of the work from home advice.

Mr Johnson acknowledged that cases are ‘high’ but said they remained ‘within the parameters’ predicted by Government scientists when legal Covid restrictions were ended in July.

Speaking during a visit to Northern Ireland yesterday, he said Britain was ‘incomparably better’ placed than last year as it headed into the winter as a result of the vaccination programme.

Rejecting calls to change approach, he

‘Incomparably better placed’

added: ‘We are sticking with the plan.’

Privately, ministers are alarmed by the continued surge in cases, and the steady rise in hospitalisations and deaths which has followed.

At present, the bulk of the cases is among the younger age groups. But there are concerns that, as vaccine effectiveness wanes, more older people could succumb to the virus, leading to a sharp rise in hospitalisations.

A Government source said the age split in recent Covid infections was ‘incredibly stark’, with secondary school children now ten times more likely to contract the virus than adults aged 50 to 70.

A second source said: ‘We are focused on doing everything we can to avoid having to implement Plan B.

‘Given the prevalence among children, there is a hope that halfterm will reverse the very concerning rises we have seen recently.

‘Certainly nothing will happen before we see what effect that has had on numbers.’

Downing Street vehemently denied reports yesterday that officials are already working on a ‘Plan C’, which would involve limiting household contacts by law.

But the former Tory health minister Steve Brine said there was already a ‘depressingly familiar drumbeat on moving towards plan B and plan B+, and plan C’.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid this week advised people to start modifying their behaviour to limit the spread of infection. He said they should try to meet outdoors and ensure they opened windows where this was not possible.

New advice on ‘the need to behave more cautiously’ is the first

step in Plan B, but No 10 yesterday denied that the contingency plans were already under way.

Figures yesterday showed the number of patients in hospital Covid has risen to more than 8,000 for the first time in more than a month.

The PM’s official spokesman acknowledged that the NHS is facing a ‘challenging winter’. But he said there were still 6,000 free hospital beds.

Downing Street yesterday denied that Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty and Chief Scientist Sir Patrick Vallance had made a ‘formal request’ to move to Plan B. But medical lobby groups lined up to call for immediate action. Dr Chaand Nagpaul, chairman of the British Medical Association, said the refusal to introduce supplementary measures – including Covid passports, mask-wearing in crowded public spaces and a return to working from home – amounted to ‘wilful negligence’.

Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, which represents health trusts, said it was ‘better to act now, rather than regret it later’.