Will there be one other lockdown earlier than Christmas as Omicron instances rise?

The emergence of the Omicron variant is inflicting concern around the globe, not least as a result of it’s regarded as extremely transmissible and since the 32 mutations of its spike protein recommend it would have the opportunity to withstand present vaccines.

The UK has recorded tens of hundreds of confirmed instances, prompting fears that additional social restrictions may very well be imposed on the British public within the last days main as much as Christmas, dashing the festive plans of tens of millions.

Nevertheless the federal government has up to now resisted implementing any new restrictions this facet of 25 December.

Following a particular assembly of the Cupboard, the prime minister mentioned he needed to “reserve the chance” that additional motion can be wanted sooner or later, however mentioned there have been “nonetheless some issues that we should be clearer about earlier than we resolve to go additional”.

Mr Johnson mentioned ministers have been monitoring the info “hour by hour” and that the arguments for taking additional motion have been “very, very finely balanced”.

“Sadly I need to say to folks that we should reserve the potential for taking additional motion to guard the general public, to guard public well being, to guard our NHS,” he mentioned. “We’re every kind of issues to maintain Omicron below management and we are going to rule nothing out.”

On the weekend, London mayor Sadiq Khan declared a serious incident over the extent of the Omicron outbreak within the capital whereas NHS England has introduced a return to its highest degree of emergency preparedness, degree 4 nationwide incident, that means that the well being service’s response can be coordinated as a nationwide effort, relatively than led by particular person trusts.

Total, the UK added greater than 90,000 infections in 24 hours on Monday. To place that in perspective, case numbers have been at round 27,000 a yr earlier on the day Mr Johnson “cancelled” Christmas with “a really heavy coronary heart”, abandoning a restrictions amnesty on family mixing and imposing extreme tier 4 restrictions on a lot of the south east of England.

Requested by the BBC’s departing Andrew Marr about the potential for additional new restrictions being launched earlier than Christmas, well being secretary Sajid Javid declined to rule it out on Sunday, saying as an alternative that there are “no ensures on this pandemic” and that the “fast-moving” scenario was being stored below evaluation.

Chief scientific officer Sir Patrick Vallance is claimed to have led the decision to drive down an infection charges and ease the stress on the NHS.

Sir Patrick’s fellow advisers have been equally outspoken, with Professor Stephen Reicher, a member of the federal government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), warning that Omicron is “coming at us like an categorical practice” and insisting that the federal government should give the general public a “good, clear message” about how “critical the disaster is”.

The prospect of introducing a two-week circuit-breaker lockdown after Christmas has been mooted, in response to additional studies over the weekend, with plans made obtainable to ministers for consideration and apparently together with a ban on assembly others indoors aside from work functions and limiting pubs and eating places to out of doors service solely.

Each Mr Johnson and Mr Javid have up to now repeatedly declined alternatives to definitively rule out harder measures of this type however transport secretary Grant Shapps did say final week that Parliament can be recalled over Christmas to vote on new restrictions ought to they grow to be needed.

It’s clear that the PM hopes encouraging the takeup of booster vaccines and the “Plan B” restrictions he just lately launched can be sufficient to see off the menace, not less than till after Christmas, though the rising case numbers proceed to solid appreciable doubt on that competition.

As preventative measures in opposition to Omicron below “Plan B”, Britons are at the moment once more being ordered to put on face masks in retailers, cinemas, theatres and locations of worship and on public transport, to make money working from home order the place attainable and to point out an NHS Covid move in return for entry to nightclubs and different giant venues and for out of doors occasions the place there are greater than 4,000 folks, measures voted via the Home of Commons regardless of a major Tory revolt.

The federal government has additional revised its strategy to boosters, planning to make them obtainable to all over-18s by the tip of December and halving the period of time between second and third injections from six months to a few, all within the hope of staving off the scary “tidal wave” of infections we’re already starting to see.

Some type of “Plan C” – be it a circuit-breaker or one thing else – may properly materialise ought to the Omicron outbreak worsen over the festive season and into the brand new yr however, as for imposing a fourth nationwide lockdown as seen earlier within the pandemic, that’s thought-about probably the most excessive measure that may very well be taken, given the brutal financial toll it takes, therefore the reluctance from Whitehall.

However the Sage advisers have been unambiguous in calling for stricter curbs, with the influential Professor Neil Ferguson of Imperial Faculty London overtly entertaining the chance for a number of weeks.

Even earlier than Omicron started to solid its sinister shadow throughout the globe, many Britons have been already glancing anxiously in the direction of the continent as Austria and the Netherlands reintroduced lockdowns in response to spiking instances of Covid-19.

The World Well being Organisation (WHO) had mentioned it was “very frightened” in regards to the unfold in Europe and warned 700,000 extra deaths may very well be recorded by March until pressing motion is taken, bringing the overall to 2.2 million for the reason that pandemic started.

Previous to the most recent worrying developments sparked by Omicon, Mr Johnson’s authorities had been reluctant to reimpose restrictions in any respect, regardless of constantly excessive case numbers, preferring to move the duty for private security onto the general public and pursue its “Plan A” of selling vaccine take-up and boosters to counter the waning of the nation’s at the moment spectacular degree of immunity.

Whereas the vaccines have constantly stored demise charges low for the reason that spring, the UK’s an infection degree has remained constantly excessive, sometimes hovering across the 40,000-per-day mark however at the moment are at greater than double that.

However the prime minister nonetheless doggedly refused to bend to scientists’ requires the implementation of “Plan B” till it turned unavoidable, little question out of worry that such a step may jeopardise Britain’s stumbling financial restoration.

He may also have been eager to thrust back the inevitable anger it could provoke, having seen anti-lockdown protests – a few of them violent – erupt in Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Denmark, Italy and Croatia.

Londoners have been actually sad in regards to the preliminary return of the masks mandate, accusing the PM of hypocrisy for declining to put on one himself at a number of public engagements.

Nevertheless, in different quarters, there seemed to be a transparent urge for food for brand new restrictions even earlier than Omicron, not less than in response to the polls.

A latest survey of 900 managers and 1,200 workers carried out by Hack Future Lab discovered 53 per cent would welcome a “festive lockdown” for the sake of their very own well-being after struggling to return to phrases with the return to odd working situations, usually discovering themselves pressured to tackle further duties to cowl for absent colleagues.

One other ballot by Savanta ComRes revealed 45 per cent of adults can be in favour of a selective lockdown concentrating on solely those that had declined to get their Covid jabs and subsequently may pose an ongoing danger to others

However, till Omicron threw a recent spanner into the works, there was a reputable case for believing that the UK was in such a robust place that it may keep away from the worst of the outbreak marauding throughout Europe.

Though Britain’s an infection charge has remained excessive for months, it has additionally been extremely secure, lingering at a seven-day common of round 600 day by day instances per million folks, whereas Austria and the Netherlands have abruptly spiked to 1,500 and 1,250 respectively from properly beneath that place to begin for the reason that starting of October.

A part of the rationale for that is that the UK was hit by the extra infectious Alpha and Delta variants of the coronavirus sooner and was subsequently in a position to deal with them forward of its European neighbours and unlock earlier.

As all the time with this pandemic, a lot stays unknown and nothing can ever be definitively dominated out.

Many can be haunted by recollections of Christmas 2020, when plans needed to be modified on the final second to rein in climbing case numbers, and households have been left pissed off, dissatisfied and unable to see susceptible family members.

Whereas the festive tv adverts might need been busy encouraging reckless spending and promising a bumper Yuletide to compensate for final yr (whereas shares final, that’s), many would do properly to mood their pleasure by recalling the haunting phrases of public well being professor Gabriel Scally from final December.

“There isn’t any level having a really merry Christmas after which burying pals and relations in January and February,” he mentioned.