Sajid Javid refuses to rule out further Covid restrictions before Christmas

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has declared a major incident due to the ‘hugely concerning’ rise in coronavirus infections across the capital.
Sami Quadri19 December 2021

Health Secretary Sajid Javid has refused to rule out new coronavirus restrictions before Christmas.

Asked on the BBC’s Andrew Marr programme to rule out measures before Christmas, he replied: “We are assessing the situation, it’s very fast-moving.

“We’ve seen with Omicron there’s a lot that we still don’t know about Omicron. That’s the truth of the matter. The reality is there’s a lot of uncertainty.”

He said it was “time to be more cautious”.

“We know this thing is spreading rapidly. We know already now that in London, it’s around 80% of infections, in England it’s around 60% of infections,” he added.

In an article for the Sunday Telegraph, Mr Javid warned that ministers may have to introduce new measures on the basis of “early and patchy” data.

He admitted there is "much we still don’t know" about the Omicron variant, but said that the "most important trading decisions" he made as an investment banker were before there was "clear" data, at which point, "it may be too late to react"

It comes after scientific advisers to the Government said hospital admissions with the variant in the UK are “probably around one tenth of the true number” due to a lag in reporting.

Sadiq Khan has warned that London faces an “existential” crisis as Omicron continues to rampage through the capital.

The London Mayor declared a major incident on Saturday amid fears over record numbers of staff absences in the public sector.

Appearing on the Andrew Marr Show, Mr Khan said: “In the last few hours we have had almost 30,000 confirmed new cases and in the last 7 days more than 130,000 new cases.

“The direction of travel is only going one way and cases are doubling over a few days.

“Here’s the big problem – those who work in the NHS, GPs, A&Es, hospitals, ambulances, the fire service, police service, they’re seeing record numbers of staff absences and the worry is our ability to look after people who are unwell or need public services.

“That’s why we’ve declared a major emergency.”

It comes amid reports that tougher restrictions will be introduced in the face of the rapidly-spreading Omicron variant, after experts warned there are likely already hundreds of thousands of new infections every day.

Stricter measures could be imposed after Boxing Day, according to a report in The Sun newspaper, which said the contingency plan had not yet been presented to ministers.

Mr Khan warned that the NHS will be “on the verge of collapsing” if the government do not bring in further measures.

However, he said that Londoners should feel free to continue going to pubs and restaurants as long as “they can do so safely”.

Asked about the severity of the situation in the capital, he said: “It’s potentially existential. I’ve been spending a lot of time over the last few weeks speaking to those in our theatres, who run our hotels, those who run our bars, restaurants, live music.

“They’ve seen bookings cancelled by more than 50 per cent. They’ve seen fewer people going to their businesses than this time in previous Decembers. Many of these places will go bust.”

It comes after scientific advisers to the Government said hospital admissions with the variant in the UK are “probably around one tenth of the true number” due to a lag in reporting.

The “situation update” from the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) on Thursday was published on Saturday and said that it is “almost certain that there are now hundreds of thousands of new Omicron infections per day” in England.

Asked about a possible tightening of restrictions after Christmas, a Government spokesman said they will “continue to look closely at all data and keep our measures under review”.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid said the current measures are “responsible and proportionate”, even as he admitted being torn over their introduction.

“Standing in Parliament this week and arguing for Plan B brought me no joy – promoting individual freedom and opportunity is one of the reasons I got into politics,” he wrote in The Sunday Telegraph.

“But we have to be clear-eyed about the challenge Omicron presents. Our strategy since it emerged has been and remains to buy time for our scientists to assess the threat and build up our defences … Together we are taking a responsible and proportionate response,” he added.

The prospect of new rules comes less than a week after Boris Johnson suffered a rebellion from a large number of Conservative backbenchers who defied him to vote against the mandatory use of Covid health passes for large venues.

Brexit minister Lord Frost, who quit on Saturday, gave an indication of his belief as to the Prime Minister’s mindset, saying in his resignation letter that “we also need to learn to live with Covid and I know that is your instinct too”.

It has been reported the public might not have access to Sandringham to see the royals attend church on Christmas Day (Joe Giddens/PA)
PA Archive

Meanwhile, the Mirror reported that the royal family’s traditional Christmas Day walk to church might not be accessible to the public due to the pandemic.

Buckingham Palace declined to comment but it is understood Christmas plans remain under consideration.

The Sunday Telegraph reported a source as saying options include the Queen remaining at Windsor Castle.

Last week, it was confirmed the traditional pre-Christmas family party for the royals, due to be held on Tuesday, has been cancelled amid concerns it could put too many people’s festive arrangements at risk if it went ahead.

Experts warned that indoor mixing is the “biggest risk factor” for the spread of the variant (PA)
PA Wire

The latest figures from the UK Health Security Agency showed there had been 10,059 additional confirmed cases of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 reported across the UK on Saturday, bringing the total confirmed cases of the variant across the four nations to 24,968.

In England, the number of deaths of people with the Omicron variant has risen to seven, and hospital admissions for people with confirmed or suspected Omicron rose to 85.

Advice from the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling, Operational sub-group (SPI-M-O), in documents also released on Saturday but dated December 8 said that, in almost all modelling, a significant reduction in transmission “similar in scale to the national lockdown” of January this year would be required “to keep hospitalisations below the height of previous peaks”.

Experts warned that indoor mixing is the “biggest risk factor” for the spread of the variant, and that large gatherings risked creating “multiple spreading events”.

They said the ramping up of the booster programme would not help in terms of hospitals admissions at this stage, as many would be those who are infected now, before immunity has had time to build.

The Liberal Democrats have called for Parliament to be recalled on Monday to debate the next steps, with party leader Sir Ed Davey saying: “We cannot allow the Prime Minister to sit on his hands while the NHS and businesses are on the brink of collapse.”

Stephen Reicher, professor of social psychology at the University of St Andrews and member of Sage, said it was clear that Plan B measures alone would not be enough to stop the spiralling numbers of cases and cautioned that waiting until after Christmas to act is “probably too late”.

A Cobra meeting was expected to be held at some point over the weekend with the devolved nations.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in