Boris Johnson says no new Covid restrictions are necessary at present, insisting his existing plan B measures are the “right” approach.
The government intends to “continue with path that we’re on”, the prime minister said – arguing the current curbs are sufficient, despite the rapid spread of the Omicron variant.
Mr Johnson ducked an invitation to say the end of the pandemic is in sight, saying: “It will be absolute folly to say that this thing is all over bar the shouting.”
But he said: “We have got plan B in place – people should never forget that.”
And he added: “The way forward for the country as a whole is to continue with the path that we’re on.
“We’ll keep everything on the review course we keep all measures under review, but the mixture of things that we’re doing at the moment is, I think, the right one.”
The comments, on a visit to a vaccination centre, come ahead of a review of plan B – widespread mask-wearing, Covid passes to enter crowded venues and work-from-home guidance – on Wednesday.
They suggest those measures will remain in place, but that England will continue to hold fire on the sorts of further curbs in place in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
At least half a dozen of NHS trusts have declared critical incidents, as the health service battles what one called an “unprecedented” staffing crisis.
But the prime minister said: “No matter how incredibly transmissible Omicron is – and there’s no question it really spreads very, very fast – it is different from previous variants.
“And it does seem pretty conclusively to be less severe than Delta or Alpha, it is putting fewer people into ICU [intensive care units] and, sadly, the people who are getting into ICU are the people who aren’t boosted, so get boosted.”
However, speaking at the hub at Stoke Mandeville Stadium in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, Mr Johnson admitted “considerable” pressure on the NHS will continue for the “next couple of weeks and maybe more”.
“There’s no question Omicron continues to surge through the country”, he said, but insisted help with staffing problems is being provided.
The government would “help the NHS with their staffing requirements, and we’re looking at what we can do to move people into those areas that are particularly badly affected”.
The prime minister appeared to reject copying the US by cutting the isolation period for people who test positive for coronavirus to five days, warning: “We don’t want to be releasing people back into the workplace when they’re still infectious.
“And the risk is you would increase the numbers of people going back into the workplace who are infectious by a factor of three.
“So you might perversely have a negative effect on the workforce if you see what I mean, so that’s the argument we’re looking at.”
