Travel and face mask rules tightened over new variant

As we've reported, Saturday's press conference followed the confirmation of two linked cases of the new Omicron variant in England - one in Brentwood, Essex and one in Nottingham.

Both cases are connected to travel in southern Africa, and both cases and their households are self-isolating.

In response, Prime Minister Boris Johnson set out a number of new measures aimed at slowing the spread of the variant, which scientist fear may be able to, at least partially, escape the vaccine.

We still have plenty of questions about the changes and when exactly they will be introduced, but here's a roundup of the main points:

• All travellers entering the UK will now have to take a PCR test within two days of entering the country and will have to self-isolate until a negative test is returned.
• All those who have been in contact with a person who tests positive for the Omicron variant will have to self-isolate regardless of whether or not they have been vaccinated.
• Face coverings will once again become compulsory in shops and on public transport in England from next week. In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland they are still mandatory on public transport and many indoor areas.
• Hospitality will be exempt from the rule change on face coverings.
• The JCVI will explore how the booster programme can be extended, including looking at closing the time gap between the second dose and the booster.
• Ten countries are now on the UK's travel red list meaning, from Sunday at 04:00 GMT, all arrivals will have to quarantine in a hotel for 10 days. They are South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, Angola, Mozambique, Malawi and Zambia.

The PM says the rules will be reviewed in a few weeks, and that he is "absolutely confident this Christmas will be considerably better than last Christmas" when strict measures were in place.

The threat posed by the new variant is not fully understood so that poses a major challenge for the government.

There is the danger of both under and over reacting to Omicron.

The issue is that this variant will have the potential to spread in the UK as we have been “running hot”. Cases of Covid have been climbing except for a lull over the October half term. They topped 50,000 in yesterday’s figures and the R number is just above that crucial threshold of one.

The success of boosters means the number of people needing either hospital treatment or dying is actually falling.

But it does tell us that the overall package of measures, our behaviour and levels of immunity, are not enough to contain the current Delta variant.

If Omicron truly does transmit better and partially evade immunity, as some scientists fear, then it too could take off.

The challenge is nobody had heard of Omicron at the start of the week. Information is flooding in but the key questions of how fast does it spread, how severe is an infection and how well does it escape vaccines are all unanswered.

The measures announced this evening are aimed at preventing Omicron getting a foothold while scientists work to find the answers.

Another point to pick up from this afternoon's Downing Street press conference was when chief medical officer Prof Chris Whitty said anti-viral pills for Covid-19, which were approved by the UK earlier this month, needed a "rethink".

The first pill designed to treat symptomatic Covid was approved by the UK medicines regulator earlier this month.

"On the anti-virals, we are going to have to do a bit of a rethink on the basis of this new variant just to be confident we've got the right indications from it," Whitty said.

He said that it was vital to make sure the drugs were used in the "most effective way and for the right people".

Shadow public health minister Alex Norris has welcomed the government's response to the new variant.

"We are broadly supportive of what has been planned today," he told BBC News.

But he said compulsory mask-wearing should never have been stopped in the first place.

"The government's Plan B has always been our Plan A," he said.

The MP added that Labour was keen to see the government "go further on booster jabs" and have all over-40s in the UK boosted by Christmas.

"We need to get on the front foot and really improve the programme."

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has welcomed the government's decision to impose tighter restrictions on face masks.

"Today's announcement that face coverings will be compulsory on public transport nationwide, as they already are across TfL, is welcome," Khan tweeted.

"Evidence shows they help stop the virus spreading, and this is a measure I've repeatedly urged the government to take."

BBCCopyright: BBC

The UK has recorded a further 39,567 new Covid cases, official statistics show.

Another 131 deaths within 28 days of a positive coronavirus test were also reported.

Updated versions of vaccines against Covid variants are already being designed and tested, in case they are needed at some point.

Should that time arrive, a new vaccine could be ready within weeks, to run checks on.

Manufacturers could scale up production quickly too and regulators have already discussed how to fast track the approval process.

No corners would be cut, but the whole process - from design to approval - could be much faster than when Covid vaccines were first launched.

Speaking to the BBC straight after Boris Johnson's press conference, Prof Susan Michie, an expert in health psychology and a member of the government's Sage advisory committee, said the measures should have gone further.

She said an "absolute cornerstone of pandemic management is you go quickly, you don't wait until you know everything".

She added that you must always be "ahead of the curve" in any pandemic.

"We must learn the lessons from mistakes we've made in the past."

"I have to say, this is Plan B-lite, what we should've had was Plan B-plus".

Michie said what the government is recommending is less than what Sage was suggesting in September, before the new variant.

That included working from home when you can and face coverings without qualifications. She suggested that places where people cannot smoke should require face coverings.

Read more here on the government's Plan B, which would come into place if the NHS came under "unsustainable pressure" in England.

Andy Burnham, Labour mayor of Greater Manchester, has welcomed the government's decision to make face coverings mandatory in shops and on public transport, but tweeted that they should never have been relaxed so early in England.

"It will now be harder, and take longer, to get levels of compliance up to where we need them to be," Burnham wrote on Twitter.

The temporary re-imposition of face masks is just one of a number of measures announced by the government in a bid to limit the spread of the recently detected Omicron variant.

Currently face masks will not be compulsory in hospitality settings, such as pubs and restaurants.

What this Christmas might look like will be on many people's minds.

But at the briefing just now, Professor Chris Whitty also made a plea for the country to "raise a glass" this festive season to the scientists who have produced the vaccines.

It comes after the prime minister insisted this Christmas would be better than 2020, despite fears over the spread of the Omicron variant and the introduction of some new restrictions.

Quote Message: If I can make one Christmas plea? It would be that when people raise their glasses this Christmas, they do so to the extraordinary scientists who produce the vaccines, the diagnostics, the drugs which will allow this Christmas, if possible, to be in a very different place to what it would have been without them." from Chris Whitty Chief Medical Officer for England

If I can make one Christmas plea? It would be that when people raise their glasses this Christmas, they do so to the extraordinary scientists who produce the vaccines, the diagnostics, the drugs which will allow this Christmas, if possible, to be in a very different place to what it would have been without them."

Answering a question earlier, Prof Patrick Vallance, the chief scientific adviser, said booster jabs would give greater protection against the new variant, as would built-up immunity in the community.

"Whether there is more needed, we will have to see," he added.

Asked about the ease of updating vaccines to tackle Omicron, he pointed to the fact that some pharmaceutical companies have already said they could tweak current vaccines and have new versions ready within 100 days.

He also echoed one of Johnson's earlier remarks, saying the spread of the variant could be delayed by further restrictions, but "you won't stop it".

Iain Watson from the BBC asked the PM if we were seeing the beginning of new restrictions and if the prime minister was confident about whether people could go ahead with their Christmas plans.

Johnson said different variants required different approaches but we do not know enough yet about the new variant.

Overall the UK "continues to be in a far stronger position" than many other countries, he insisted.

He added that he was "absolutely confident this Christmas will be considerably better than last Christmas".

"That will do for the time-being on that one."

England's chief medical officer earlier used this briefing to illustrate what scientists know so far about Omicron that's causing them to be worried. Here's the clip so you can watch it back for yourselves.

Johnson has said it is vital that people get their booster jabs.

"We don't yet exactly know how effective our vaccines will be against Omicron but we have good reasons for believing they will provide at least some measure of protection," he says.

"If you're boosted, your response is likely to be stronger so it's more vital than ever that people get their jabs and we get those boosters into arms as fast as possible.

He adds that the government will "boost the booster campaign" from today, with plans for 6 million jabs in the next three weeks.

Nick Martin of Sky asks whether face coverings will be mandatory in all indoor spaces.

The PM says the government is looking at making masks mandatory in shops and on transport, but says the details will be set out by Health Secretary Sajid Javid early next week.

The reporter asks whether the potential spread of the new variant has been modelled by scientists and if we can rule out further lockdowns.

Prof Vallance says South African scientists have been "absolutely brilliant" at sharing information - but it will take time to gather all the facts.

"If it's very transmissible and does cause big [vaccine] escape clearly that's a major issue."