Coronavirus restrictions are set to come to an end this month as the final review date approaches.
‘Plan B’ measures were put in place in England before Christmas in a bid to slow down the spread of the highly transmissible Omicron variant of coronavirus.
Face masks are currently mandatory in most public settings, while people are advised to work from home where possible and large venues must ask customers for Covid Passes upon entry.
But, next week these measures could be lifted as the legislation expires.
When ministers first brought the measures into force they set a ‘sunset date’ of January 26.
This means that when the Cabinet conducts its final review next week, if they decide the measures should stay in place beyond January 26, they will have to get them through another vote in Parliament.
Health secretary Sajid Javid is “cautiously optimistic” that Plan B Covid restrictions can be “substantially” reduced.
He told the Commons today (Tuesday): “Eight weeks ago when this House last met for health and social care questions, the world had not even heard of the Omicron variant, yet since then we have seen a third of the UK’s total number of Covid-19 cases recorded.
“The action that this government has taken in response to Omicron and the collective efforts of the British people have seen us become the most boosted country in Europe, the most tested country in Europe, and the most antivirals per head in Europe.
“That is why we are the most open country in Europe.
“I have always said that these restrictions should not stay in place a day longer than absolutely necessary.
“Due to these pharmaceutical defences and the likelihood that we have already reached the peak of the case numbers of hospitalisations, I am cautiously optimistic that we will be able to substantially reduce restrictions next week.”
On Monday, Downing Street said there were “encouraging signs” in the data that infection rates are now falling.
Boris Johnson’s official spokesman said there were also “some signs of falls – or at least plateauing – in admissions and occupancy in hospital”.
But, they added: “It still remains the case that our NHS is under significant pressure, there are over 16,000 Covid patients in hospital in England alone.
“So we are keeping a very close eye on the data but we do believe the mitigations we have in place – particularly our booster programme – is offering massive protection to the public.”
Some have suggested that the government plans to lift the final restrictions as part of what has been dubbed ‘Operation Red Meat’.
Operation Red Meat refers to a series of policy announcements, such as the scrapping of the BBC licence fee, which the PM and his advisers hope will win back support from disaffected MPs and voters and Conservative Party campaigners.
Not only would the removal of Plan B measures be warmly welcomed by the lockdown-sceptic MPs on the Conservative backbenches, it would also prevent another massive rebellion if he tried to renew them.
But, while ministers rally around the PM in the run up to next week’s review date, Dr David Nabarro of the World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that leaders should not be “prematurely promising” restrictions will end at a certain time.
(Image: Getty Images)
The WHO special envoy on Covid-19 told BBC Breakfast: “The situation with Covid is one where we can see how the threat will become contained and we can see the journey ahead, but it’s just that getting there is going to be tough, and that’s where we have to be, all of us, really, really open with each other.
“Restrictions are making a difference because they reduce the number of contacts people have, and restrictions therefore are helpful and it’s important that there is no premature promising that restrictions will end at a particular time or we’ll be able to get back to normal at a particular time.
“I want to be hopeful but I want to do my best to be as clear with what I’m really seeing, which is where I need to continue to be cautious and I will be.”
Asked about the prospect of the government lifting Plan B restrictions in England, he added: “I’m a public health person … I would not be making promises some time in the future because, once you make a promise, it’s super hard then to change what you’re going to do – you feel you’re kind of doing a U-turn.
“This virus is constantly evolving and it’s super hard to predict where it will be – we can say where we hope we’re going to go, we can say where we’d like to go, we can say what we think we need to do to get there – but making promises that we’ll do something on a particular date, I think, is unwise.”
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