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UK health minister declines to commit stricter Covid rules amid lockdown reports
On Saturday, British media reported that the government was drawing up plans for a two-week circuit-breaker lockdown after Christmas.
UK health secretary Sajid Javid on Sunday declined to commit to stricter rules to contain Omicron variant after top scientific advisers recommended stringent measures in view of resurgence of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases. Speaking to Sky News, Javid argued the government needs to strike a balance between scientific advice and the impact of stringent measures like lockdown on businesses and people.
“We will keep the situation under review, but I can’t stress enough how the situation today in terms of our defences is very different,” he said, referring to the high vaccination rate and expansion of the booster program.
On Saturday, British media reported that the government was drawing up plans for a two-week circuit-breaker lockdown after Christmas to break the chain of the new, highly-transmissible variant of concern. Citing the minutes of a meeting of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), the reports suggested that draft regulations were being drawn up to ban indoor mixing except for work purposes.
UK's confirmed Omicron tally jumps by 10,000 cases in 24 hours; now at 24,968
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson was reportedly presented with a number of options ranging from "mild guidance to nudge people, right through to lockdown". The Sage advised that strong measures are needed without any delay to prevent the number of daily hospitalisations from reaching the levels of January when Britain 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.
Highlighting the high vaccination coverage and booster program, the UK health secretary said the government would “recall parliament” if there was a “need to take any further action.”
