Boris Johnson confirms ‘Plan B’ including work from home order and vaccine passports

Boris Johnson has confirmed that ‘Plan B’ restrictions will be brought into place as cases of the Omicron variant continue to rise up and down the country.

In a televised announcement to the nation, the Prime Minister acknowledged that the Omicron variant is ‘growing much faster than the previous Delta variant’ and is spreading ‘rapidly’ around the world.

He then confirmed that various Covid restrictions will be reintroduced, including a work from home order, face masks in venues such as theatres and cinemas and the introduction of covid passports for nightclubs and other ‘crowded’ venues.

The mandatory masks will be extended to public venues this Friday, while the NHS Covid pass will become mandatory for entry into nightclubs and venues from next week. 

The NHS pass can still be obtained with two doses of the vaccine or a negative lateral flow test result. However, this will be kept under review as the boosters roll out.

Johnson said on the Covid vaccines: “We will also make the NHS Covid pass mandatory for entry into nightclubs and venues where large crowds gather, including unseated indoor venues with more than 500 people, unseated outdoor venues with more than 4,000 people and any venue with more than 10,000 people.”

On the work from home order, the Prime Minister added: “We will reintroduce the guidance to work from home. From Monday you should work from home if you can. I know this will be hard for many people but by reducing your contact in the workplace you will reduce transition.”

The decision comes amid concerns of the spread of the new Omicron variant, despite a Sage scientist recently stressing that the variant is ‘not a disaster’, and that ‘some people may be ‘hugely overstating the situation’.

However, the Prime Minister has stressed his concern about the spread of the variant, saying in his announcement this evening: “Most worryingly, there is evidence that the doubling time of Omicron in the UK could currently be between two and three days.

“And while there are some limits to what we can learn from South Africa – because of the different rates of vaccination and different rates of previous infection – we are seeing growth in cases here in the UK that mirrors the rapid increases previously seen in South Africa.

“South Africa is also seeing hospitalisations roughly doubling in a week, meaning that we can’t yet assume Omicron is less severe than previous variants.”

An end date for the new restrictions is yet to be announced.