Health Secretary Sajid Javid is due to outline how and when new Covid measures will come into force in the UK’s response to the new Omicron variant.
The PM has announced mandatory face masks in shops and on public transport in England and PCR tests will be required for all overseas arrivals.
Arrivals from 10 new red list countries will need to quarantine for 10 days.
Mr Javid is expected to provide more details when he appears on BBC One’s Andrew Marr Show at 09:00 GMT.
MPs will be given a subsequent vote in Parliament.
But the measures – announced by Boris Johnson in a news conference on Saturday after the confirmation of the first two confirmed cases of the new variant in the UK – do not go as far as the government’s Plan B, which ministers have long said is their contingency plan if intervention on Covid is needed to protect the NHS.
So that means it it not expected that ministers will introduce vaccine passports in England or issue advice to work from home. Mr Johnson explained in the news conference that he was happy that the current “proportionate” response was keeping number of the dominant Delta variant of Covid under control.
- How are England’s Covid rules changing because of Omicron?
- How worrying is the new Covid variant?
- The UK’s red list is back… which countries are on it?
Labour has called for full implementation of Plan B and for improved sick pay to encourage self-isolation.
The government says it will review the new measures in three weeks – just before most schools break up for the Christmas holidays.
This is a moment the government had wanted to avoid.
We’ve got used to restrictions in England being lifted. But for the first time in months, they’re now being re-imposed in response to the new variant.
And these restrictions could have a significant impact.
For example, anyone who goes on holiday will now need to pay for a PCR test and self-isolate until they get a negative result. If Omicron spreads quickly, there could be a lot of people forced to self-isolate for 10 days as close contacts.
But the government hasn’t gone for its full plan B. Masks won’t be mandatory in hospitality settings in England like they are in Scotland and Wales.
People aren’t being told to work from home – and there still aren’t plans for vaccine passports.
But it’s a sign of the uncertainty and concern in Whitehall that Boris Johnson felt he had to announce these measures.
The government was criticised in some quarters for acting too slowly to stem the spread of the now dominant Delta variant, so it says it is acting more swiftly against this latest variant of concern.
Mr Johnson pointed out that the danger posed by Omicron – which was first reported from South Africa, with early evidence suggesting it has a higher reinfection risk – was only flagged up to them on Thursday this week.
He announced the restrictions at a Downing Street news conference after it was confirmed that two Omicron cases had been detected in Brentwood, Essex, and Nottingham. Officials said the cases were linked and connected to travel in southern Africa.
Mr Johnson said: “We need to slow down the spread of this variant here in the UK, because measures at the border can only ever minimise and delay the arrival of a new variant rather than stop it all together.”
Under the plans:
- Everyone entering the UK (other than those coming from the Common Travel Area that covers the Channel Islands and Ireland) will have to take PCR test by the end of the second day after their arrival and self-isolate until they receive a negative result
- All contacts of suspected Omicron cases must self-isolate, regardless of whether or not they are fully vaccinated
- Face coverings will be made compulsory in shops and on public transport – but hospitality settings will be exempt from the changes
- The health secretary is to ask advisers to consider rapidly extending boosters, including reducing the gap between the second dose of the vaccine and the booster
One change has already been implemented. Ten countries – South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, Angola, Mozambique, Malawi and Zambia – are now on the UK’s travel red list. That was applied from 04:00 GMT, meaning that until further notice any British or Irish residents arriving in the UK after recently visiting any of those countries will have to quarantine in an approved hotel for 10 days.
Residents from the countries themselves will not be allowed into the UK until the red list status changes.
The average number of daily confirmed Covid cases in the UK began rising again in early November. A further 39,567 confirmed cases were announced on Saturday.
Comments are closed.