Johnson ‘increasingly concerned’ about rapid spread of Omicron

Boris Johnson has become “increasingly concerned” about the rapid spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant, with officials racing to draw up plans for new restrictions to curb its spread.

Johnson told his cabinet on Tuesday that Omicron appears to be more transmissible than the Delta strain, with colleagues noting the “stark” data from South Africa where cases have been doubling every three days.

The UK prime minister’s spokesman said the government’s so-called Plan B, which includes advice to work from home and the use of vaccine passports for certain events, could be deployed in England if needed.

The mood across Whitehall shifted on Tuesday, with officials drawing up options to present to ministers “within days”; they are expected to include additional measures such as new mask mandates and social distancing.

One person familiar with thinking in the UK Health Security Agency said there was a growing belief that Plan B “is now imminent”, a view shared by members of the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies and its subgroup SPI-M. “The issue is can they get it past the politicians,” the official added.

Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, on Tuesday asked people to work from home until mid-January to try to slow the “potentially rapid rise” of the Covid-19 variant.

“The spread in South Africa has been stark,” said one ally of Johnson, in a sign of a sudden darkening of the mood in Downing Street. “We are increasingly concerned about the data we have received.”

Johnson’s spokesman said: “There are further measures in Plan B that we can move to if required. We are able to move relatively quickly.” Plan B could be adapted to cope with new variants, he added.

One option for tackling the spread of Omicron being discussed by officials is whether the gap between booster jabs needs to be further reduced. But one Department for Health and Social Care insider said this was not being considered.

Some civil servants have privately called for vaccine passports to be introduced immediately, but have encountered resistance from ministers. “We’re looking at options to make certification more politically palatable, potentially wrapped in with other measures,” one official said.

The Covid-19 antiviral drug molnupiravir will be given to vulnerable patients from next week and then rolled out nationwide in early January, Johnson is expected to announce at a press conference on Wednesday.

Vulnerable patients will get the medication delivered to their home or receive it intravenously at one of 60 hubs after testing positive for coronavirus, according to one person familiar with the development.

About 10,600 patients will participate in a trial aimed at high risk patients, those with underlying medical conditions and/or those with the greatest level of risk.

Any move to Covid passports to access crowded venues would meet a fierce backlash from backbench Tory MPs. Downing Street said it wanted to give MPs “a say” on new measures but it had the power to act if the Commons is in recess; MPs begin their Christmas break on December 16.

Rishi Sunak, chancellor, has reminded colleagues of the economic impact of any measures, although “work from home” advice and the use of Covid passports are seen in the Treasury as relatively low cost.

On Tuesday, another 101 Omicron variant cases were recorded in the UK, taking the total across the country to 437. Sajid Javid, health secretary, has said that community transmission is now widespread.

Ravi Gupta, professor of clinical microbiology at Cambridge university and a member of the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group, said “it would be good to formalise Plan B” now.

But he added there was no need to implement additional measures until there was more data on the severity of the illness caused by Omicron.

Johnson repeated at cabinet that booster vaccines remained the best defence against Omicron; he insisted that the NHS was on course to meet the target of offering a booster to all adults by the end of January.

More than 20 Conservative backbenchers voted against the imposition of new restrictions on mandatory face coverings when the measures were brought to the House of Commons last week.

“The prospect of increased restrictions will be a hard sell to the public and to Tory MPs at this stage in the pandemic,” argued one senior Conservative MP.

Additional reporting by Oliver Barnes