The British government is planning a short two-week circuit breaker lockdown after Christmas to keep pace with the rapidly spreading Omicron variant of coronavirus, according to UK media reports. The draft regulations of the lockdown are being drawn up which would ban indoor mixing except for work purposes, the reports said citing leaked minutes of a meeting of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage).
The advisory group has reportedly presented UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson with a number of options under Plan C, ranging from "mild guidance to nudge people, right through to lockdown".
With an exponential surge in Covid cases, the UK is witnessing around 700 to 800 hospital admissions every day for the last seven days and the Sage has warned that stringent measures would be required to prevent the number to reach the levels of January when the country was reporting over 3,700 hospital admissions a day.
"If the aim is to reduce the levels of infection in the population and prevent hospitalisations reaching these levels, more stringent measures would need to be implemented very soon," the Sage minutes said, as quoted by BBC.
According to Sage minutes, the timing of more stringent measures is crucial and delaying it would greatly reduce the effectiveness of such interventions, reported BBC.
{{/usCountry}}According to Sage minutes, the timing of more stringent measures is crucial and delaying it would greatly reduce the effectiveness of such interventions, reported BBC.
{{/usCountry}}The reports have emerged amid a worrying rise in confirmed cases of Omicron in Britain. On Saturday, the UK Health Security Agency said that almost 25,000 Omicron cases has been detected as of December 17, up by just over 10,000 cases from 24 hours earlier.