Category: Coronavirus

The statement made by Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, to the House of Commons on 19 January 2022.

Mr Speaker, with permission I will make a statement on our progress against Omicron and the review of our Plan B measures.

Within hours of learning from scientists in South Africa about the emergence of a new Covid variant last November, this government acted, introducing balanced and proportionate restrictions at our borders to slow the seeding of Omicron in our country.

As we learned more about this highly transmissible new variant, we implemented the Plan B measures we had prepared precisely in case our situation deteriorated, encouraging people to change their behaviour to slow the spread of the virus and buying crucial time to get boosters into arms.

We made the big call to refocus our National Health Service, necessarily requiring the difficult postponement of many other appointments –

So that we could double the speed of booster programme.

And thanks to the extraordinary efforts of our NHS and its volunteers, we delivered the fastest booster programme in Europe, reaching half our population before any other European country, with more than 36 million boosters now in arms across the UK, including more than 90 per cent of all over 60s in England.

And taking a balanced approach, we resisted calls from others to shut down our country all over again.

Many nations across Europe have endured further winter lockdowns.

Many have seen hospitality curfews and nightclubs closed, capacity limits at sports stadiums, the return of social distancing, and, in some places, Christmas and New Year as good as cancelled.

But this government took a different path.

We kept England open.

And we supported those businesses which faced reduced demand because of the response to Plan B measures.

And while we must continue to remain cautious, the data are showing that time and again this government got the toughest decisions right.

Today’s latest ONS data show clearly that infection levels are falling in England.

And while there are some places where cases are likely to continue rising,

including in primary schools – our scientists believe it is likely that the Omicron wave has now peaked nationally.

There remain, of course, significant pressures on the NHS across our country, and especially in the North East and North West.

But hospital admissions which were doubling every 9 days just two weeks ago – have now stabilised, with admissions in London even falling.

And the numbers in intensive care not only remain low but are actually also falling.

So this morning, the Cabinet concluded that because of the extraordinary booster campaign together with the way the public have responded to the Plan B measures – we can return to Plan A in England and allow Plan B regulations to expire.

As a result, from the start of Thursday next week mandatory certification will end.

Organisations can, of course, choose to use the NHS Covid Pass voluntarily but we will end the compulsory use of Covid status certification in England.

From now, the government is no longer asking people to work from home and people should now speak to their employers about arrangements for returning to the office.

And having looked at the data carefully, the Cabinet concluded that once regulations lapse, the government will no longer mandate the wearing of face masks anywhere.

Mr Speaker, from tomorrow, we will no longer require face masks in classrooms, and the Department for Education will shortly remove national guidance on their use in communal areas.

In the country at large, we will continue to suggest the use of face coverings in enclosed or crowded places, particularly where you come into contact with people you don’t normally meet.

But we will trust the judgement of the British people and no longer criminalise anyone who chooses not to wear one.

The government will also ease further restrictions on visits to care homes and my Rt Hon Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, will set out plans in the coming days.

Mr Speaker, as we return to Plan A, the House will know that some measures still remain, including those on self-isolation.

In particular, it is still a legal requirement for those who have tested positive for Covid to self-isolate.

On Monday we reduced the isolation period to five full days with two negative tests.

And there will soon come a time when we can remove the legal requirement to self-isolate altogether – just as we don’t place legal obligations on people to isolate if they have flu.

As Covid becomes endemic we will need to replace legal requirements with advice and guidance urging people with the virus to be careful and considerate of others.

The self-isolation regulations expire on 24th March, at which point I very much expect not to renew them.

Indeed were the data to allow, I would like to seek a vote in this House to bring that date forwards.

In advance of that, we will set out our long-term strategy for living with Covid-19, explaining how we hope and intend to protect our liberty and avoid restrictions in future by relying instead on medical advances – especially the vaccines which have already saved so many lives.

But to make that possible, we must all remain cautious during these last weeks of winter.

When there are still over 16,000 people in hospital in England alone, the pandemic is not over.

And, Mr Speaker, make no mistake, Omicron is not a mild disease for everyone – and especially if you’re not vaccinated.

Just look at the numbers in intensive care in other countries where vaccination rates are far lower.

Indeed, from our NHS data, we know that around 90 per cent of people in intensive care are not boosted.

So I urge members across the House to do everything possible to encourage any remaining constituents who have not done so – to get boosted now.

And for the next few weeks, I encourage everyone across the country to continue with all the cautious behaviours that we know help to keep each everybody safe.

washing hands,

letting fresh air in,

getting tested, self-isolating if positive, and, as I say, thinking about wearing a face covering in crowded and enclosed settings.

Mr Speaker, Omicron has tested us, just as Alpha and Delta did before.

But let’s remember some of what we’ve achieved.

We were the first nation in the world to administer a vaccine. We were the fastest in Europe to roll it out.

Because outside of the European Medicines Agency, this government made the big call to pursue our own British procurement strategy rather than opting back into the EU scheme as some people urged.

We created a world-beating testing programme, the largest in Europe, and procured the most antivirals of any country in Europe too, because this government made the big call to invest early in lateral flow tests and in cutting-edge drugs to protect the most vulnerable.

We’ve delivered the fastest booster campaign in Europe, and we’re the first to emerge from the Omicron wave, because the government made the big call to focus on our NHS, and to refocus our activity and lead that campaign to Get Boosted Now.

And that’s why we’ve retained the most open economy and society anywhere across the European continent, and the fastest growing economy in the G7 – because we made that tough decision to open up last Summer when others said that we shouldn’t, and to keep things open this winter when others wanted them shut.

This week the World Health Organisation said that while the global situation remains challenging, the United Kingdom can start to see “light at the end of the tunnel”.

And Mr Speaker, this is no accident of history.

Confronted by the nation’s biggest challenge since the Second World War and the worst pandemic since 1918, any government would get some things wrong. but this government got the big things right.

And I commend this Statement to the House.

The statement made by Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, in the House of Commons on 5 January 2022.

With permission, Mr Speaker, I will make a statement on the omicron variant and our measures to contain this virus, fortify our NHS and keep our country open.

First, I am sure that the whole House will join me in paying tribute to everyone working in our NHS and social care for their extraordinary efforts in the teeth of yet another wave of this pandemic, and for all that they have done, together with thousands of volunteers, to get Britain boosted. Since we began the Get Boosted Now campaign just over three weeks ago, we have delivered 10 million extra boosters across the UK; we have doubled the rate of vaccination from 450,000 doses a day to a peak of more than 900,000; we have matched the NHS’s previous record day, then beaten it again and again; and we have met our target of offering a booster to every eligible adult in England a whole month early.

As a result, we have a higher level of booster protection than all our European neighbours, with more than 34 million boosters having been administered across the UK, reaching in England more than 90% of the over-70s and 86% of the over-50s. Together with the evidence that omicron causes less severe disease than previous variants, and the way in which the public have conscientiously changed their behaviour in response to plan B, that level of protection means that we are in a very different position than we were during previous waves.

I know that some hon. Members may therefore ask whether that means we can now do away with measures altogether, but I am sorry to report that hospital admissions are rising rapidly—doubling around every nine days—and there are more than 15,000 covid patients in hospital in England alone. We are experiencing the fastest growth in covid cases that we have ever known; over 218,000 cases were reported yesterday, although that included some delayed reporting. Potentially of greatest concern, case rates are now rapidly rising among the older and more vulnerable—doubling every week among those over 60, with the obvious risk that that will continue to increase the pressures on our NHS.

In response to the latest data, the Cabinet agreed this morning that we should stick with plan B for another three weeks, with a further review before the regulations expire on 26 January. People in England should carry on working from home whenever they can, wear face coverings on public transport and in most indoor public places, and take a test before going to high-risk venues or meeting the elderly or vulnerable. All of these measures are helping to take the edge off the omicron wave, to slow the spread of infection, to manage the immediate pressures on our NHS and to buy time for the boosters to take effect. Those in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland should, of course, continue to follow the rules where they live.

Faced with those pressures on our NHS, I know that some Members may ask the opposite question: whether we should go even further and move towards a full lockdown. But lockdowns are not cost-free; they impose a devastating toll on our physical and mental wellbeing, on our businesses, jobs and livelihoods and, worst of all, on the life chances of our children, so the Government do not believe that we need to shut down our country again.

Instead, we are taking a balanced approach, using the protection of the boosters and the plan B measures to reduce the spread of the virus, while acting to strengthen our NHS, protect critical national services and keep our supply chains open. We are building on-site Nightingale hospitals and creating 2,500 virtual beds to increase NHS capacity. We have bought more antivirals per person than anywhere else in Europe, and we are working to identify those trusts that are most likely to need military support, so that that can be prepared now.

From 10 January, we will provide 100,000 critical workers in England with free lateral flow tests for every working day to help to keep essential services running. That includes those who work on critical national infrastructure, national security, transport, and food distribution and processing. Those tests are separate—and in addition—from those already allocated to our public services, such as in education, where we have delivered 31 million testing kits to schools and colleges for the start of the new term.

We have the biggest testing programme in Europe, registering almost twice as many tests as France, and four times as many as Germany. Last month alone, we distributed 300 million lateral flow devices, enabling millions of people to get tested and keep their loved ones, friends and colleagues safe in the run-up to Christmas. Thanks to the sheer size of the omicron wave, we still need to take steps to ensure that our testing capacity reaches those who need it most, so we will be suspending the need to do a PCR test to confirm the result of a positive lateral flow test. From next Tuesday in England, if someone tests positive on a lateral flow device, they should just record that result on gov.uk and begin self-isolating.

Our balanced approach also means that where specific measures are no longer serving their purpose, they will be dropped. When the omicron variant was first identified, we rightly introduced travel restrictions to slow its arrival in our country, but now omicron is so prevalent, these measures are having a limited impact on the growth in cases while continuing to pose significant costs for our travel industry. I can announce that in England, from 4 am on Friday, we will be scrapping the pre-departure test, which discourages many from travelling for fear of being trapped overseas and incurring significant extra expense. We will also be lifting the requirement to self-isolate on arrival until receipt of a negative PCR, returning instead to the system we had in October last year, where those arriving in England will need to take a lateral flow test no later than the end of day 2 and, if positive, a further PCR test to help us to identify any new variants at the border.

All these measures are balanced and proportionate ways of ensuring we can live with covid without letting our guard down, and we can only do this thanks to the biggest and fastest booster campaign in Europe. Yet there are still almost 9 million people eligible who have not had their booster. As many as 90% of those in intensive care with covid have not had their booster and over 60% of those in intensive care with covid have not had any vaccination at all.

There are 2 million slots available in the next week alone, so I urge hon. Members on both sides of the House to do everything possible to encourage their constituents to get boosted now. This is the very best way to save lives, reduce pressure on our NHS and keep our country open. I commend this statement to the House.