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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has recommended to his Cabinet that England does not need to impose further lockdown restrictions as he hopes to ride out the Omicron wave of Covid-19, which hit another daily record high with 218,724 infections.
In the first Cabinet meeting of the New Year, Johnson laid out his plans to continue with Plan B measures which include mandatory face coverings, work from home where possible guidance and COVID vaccination certificate checks for larger events.
Johnson also announced plans for 100,000 critical workers to take daily tests from January 10 in order to keep infections under closer check and address the issue of large-scale self-isolating staff absences.
“As our NHS moves to a war footing, I will be recommending to Cabinet that we continue with Plan B, Johnson said during a Downing Street briefing on Tuesday evening.
“We have a chance to ride out this Omicron wave without shutting down our country once again. We can keep our schools and our businesses open, and we can find a way to live with this virus,” he said.
There is speculation that the requirement for confirmatory PCR tests to follow positive lateral flow antigen tests could be scrapped. It has been reported that health officials have drawn up plans to limit PCR tests to those with symptoms, allowing those who are asymptomatic about 40 per cent of cases to return to work more quickly. People who test positive on lateral flow home testing kits will still need to isolate for at least seven days.
