Professor: Shut down now or risk a huge surge of infections

The most effective way to stop the spread of Omicron would be to lock down before Christmas, a leading Government adviser has said.

Stephen Reicher, professor of social psychology at St Andrews University and member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), said it was clear that Plan B measures alone would not be enough to stop the spiralling numbers of cases.

He said the time to act was before Christmas not after as reports claimed officials have been drawing up draft plans for a twoweek circuit-breaker lockdown after the festive season.

Reicher told Times Radio: “The only way really, or at least the most effective way, we can have an immediate effect is to decrease the number of contacts we have.

“In many ways, the most effective way of diminishing contact is to have a circuit-breaker.

“Now, you could have it after Christmas, the problem is after Christmas it’s probably too late, it’s probably by then we will have had a huge surge of infections with all the impact upon society.

“When people say ‘look, we don’t want to close down’, of course, we don’t want to close down. But the problem is at the moment, things are closing down anyway, because of the spread of infection.

“So I think we need to act now.”

The Financial Times reported that Boris Johnson was presented with a number of options on Friday under a so-called Plan C, ranging from “mild guidance to nudge people, right through to lockdown”.

The newspaper quoted allies of the prime minister who claimed Johnson still wanted to go down the guidance route but that he also had to be realistic about the threat of Omicron.

Leaked minutes from Sage, seen by the BBC, said scientists had told ministers that tougher measures needed to be brought in “very soon”.

The BBC reported the advisers had recommended moving to restrictions seen in step one and two of the easing of lockdown restrictions in the spring. This included a ban on indoor mixing and indoor hospitality.

They reportedly warned against delaying further interventions until 2022.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation said the Omicron variant had been identified in 89 countries as of Thursday and had a doubling time of between 1.5 and three days.

It said data is still limited on the severity of the strain, but added: “Given rapidly increasing case counts, it is possible that many healthcare systems may become quickly overwhelmed.”