Boris Johnson tightens rules on travel and mask-wearing over Omicron concerns |
Boris Johnson has announced fresh measures to curb the spread of coronavirus including mandatory masks in shops and PCR tests for travellers entering England after two cases of the Omicron variant were detected in the country.
Amid mounting global concern over Omicron, named a “variant of concern” by the World Health Organization on Friday, the prime minister set out a series of steps the UK is taking to maximise its defence against Covid-19.
Speaking at a Downing Street press conference, Johnson said anyone arriving in England will be asked to take a PCR test for Covid-19 on the second day and must self-isolate until they provide a negative test. The rules on face coverings in shops and on public transport in England will also be tightened, he said.
Contacts of all confirmed cases of people infected with the Omicron variant in England will have to self-isolate for 10 days. Health officials are also examining the case for widening access to the booster vaccine programme, he added.
The measures will be reviewed in three weeks.
The devolved administrations in Scotland and Wales confirmed on Saturday evening they will apply the same measures on international travel as announced by Johnson.
A spokesperson for the Welsh government said: “We have repeatedly raised our concerns with the UK government about its decision to relax international travel rules quickly, precisely because of the risk of introducing new variants into the UK. We also warned against the removal of PCR tests for returning travellers.
Omicron is potentially more contagious than previous variants, although experts do not know yet if it will cause more severe illness. Johnson warned it could reduce the effectiveness of vaccines, as he announced a strengthening of England’s rules after two cases were identified in Nottingham and Brentwood in Essex.
In an effort to slow the spread, Johnson announced “temporary and precautionary” measures to be reviewed in three weeks, alongside an expansion of the vaccine booster campaign.
Johnson said he remained confident that this Christmas “will be considerably better than last Christmas”.
Asked about the prospect for this year’s festivities, the prime minister said: “We continue to be in a strong position largely thanks to the speed of the vaccine rollout, another booster rollout and I think I’m going to stick with the formula I’ve used before, which is I’m pretty confident to absolutely confident this Christmas will be considerably better than last Christmas.”
The measures announced fall short of the government’s plan B, which involves advice to work from home and the use of vaccine passports.
However, the UK may need to “face up” to the possibility of further action if the Omicron variant is very transmissible, the UK’s chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, said.
He said: “I think we’ll get more information on transmissibility, we’ll get more information on the ability of the vaccines to protect against the virus, but that’s going to take a little bit of time.
“At the moment, the models are more ‘if it spreads very fast, of course it’s going to spread very fast and go into a lot of places,…
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