Boris Johnson announces UK plan to ‘ride out’ Omicron without shutting down

Boris Johnson has announced that the UK can endure the nation’s current Covid wave, bolstered by the Omicron variant, without re-entering lockdown.

Boris Johnson has announced that the UK can endure the nation’s current Covid wave, bolstered by the Omicron variant, without re-entering lockdown. Picture: Hollie Adams/Getty Images

Britain will endure its current wave of Covid-19 — driven by the more contagious Omicron variant — without re-entering lockdown, Boris Johnson has said.

The UK reported 218,724 new infections on Tuesday — a record for the number of cases reported on a single day — as the virus once again wreaks havoc on the hospitality and aviation industries, and kids don face masks to attend school.

Cabinet ministers have been ordered to prepare for a worst-case scenario of one-in-four workers being ill or forced to isolate.

“As people return to work following the Christmas break, the high transmissibility levels of Omicron mean business and public services will face disruption in the coming weeks, particularly from higher than normal stuff absence,” Chancellor Steve Barclay has warned.

While the Prime Minister acknowledged the coming weeks will be a challenge, he said England will not revert to its previous stringent shutdown measures.

Instead, it will rely on “Plan B” measures — which include wearing face masks on public transport and in shops, but don’t restrict gatherings or close business; the vaccine booster rollout, and the population to exercise caution and commonsense as a means of constraining the current surge.

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Britain will endure its current wave of Covid-19 — driven by the more contagious Omicron variant — without re-entering lockdown, Boris Johnson has said. Picture: Jack Hill/AFP

According to government statistics, over 90 per cent of those aged 12 and over have now had their first vaccine dose, and 82.4 per cent have received their second. Three in four eligible adults in England have now received a booster.

“Together with the Plan B measures that we introduced before Christmas, we have a chance to ride out this Omicron wave without shutting down our country once again,” Mr Johnson said.

“We can keep our schools and our businesses open, and we can find a way to live with this virus.

“But the weeks ahead are going to be challenging, both here in the UK and across the world.”

He added there was a “good chance” he would not impose fresh measures.

“It has to balance the effect on people’s lives and livelihoods of lockdowns, which are painful, which take away people’s life chances and which do a great deal of social damage, damage to people’s mental health as well as damage to the economy,” the PM said.

“Together with the Plan B measures that we introduced before Christmas, we have a chance to ride out this Omicron wave without shutting down our country once again.” Picture: Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty Images

The PM said there’s a “good chance” he won’t reimpose new measures. Picture: Hollie Adams/Getty Images

Mr Johnson also warned of considerable pressure in the coming weeks on the nation’s hospitals, despite admission rates not yet tracking the trajectory of daily cases, saying the NHS will be “temporarily overwhelmed”.

“The NHS is under huge pressure. I won’t provide a definition of what being overwhelmed would constitute because I think that different trusts and different places, at different moments, will feel at least temporarily overwhelmed,” he said.

“And hospitals at the moment are sending out signals saying that they are feeling the pressure hugely. I understand that, and I thank them for the work that they are doing. It is absolutely fantastic.

“There are not as many Covid patients in the NHS now as there were in the January peak, not by a long way, but sadly the numbers are likely to grow … I’ve just got to say to people, as I said yesterday, there will be a difficult period for our wonderful NHS for the next few weeks because of Omicron.

“I just think we have to get through it as best as we possibly can. We will give the NHS all the support that we can.”

More than 60 per cent of patients in UK ICU haven’t received the vaccine. Picture: Lindsey Parnaby/AFP

The mortality rate has also not risen with the increase in cases, chief medical officer Chris Whitty said, and pressure on intensive care units — where 90 per cent of people have not had not a booster and more than 60 per cent have not had any vaccine at all — is less than in previous waves.

Nevertheless, the PM said the National Health Service was moving on to a “war footing”, with plans to set up coronavirus surge hubs at hospitals across England in preparation for a potential wave of admissions.

The government is currently working to identify NHS trusts “most likely to need actual military support, so this can be prepared now”, he added.