Boris Johnson set to announce new Covid restrictions later today

Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to announce fresh Covid restrictions in a meeting later on today.

Whitehall officials have told the Financial Times that the government is planning on implementing ‘Plan B’,  which includes the requirement of vaccine passports for large venues and an order to work from home.

It is understood that the new rules will be discussed in a Cabinet meeting this afternoon and then announced at a televised press conference at 5.30pm.

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’.

Microbiologist Prof Calum Semple says vaccines are ‘still likely to protect you from severe disease’, telling BBC Breakfast: “This is not a disaster, and the headlines from some of my colleagues saying ‘this is horrendous’ I think are hugely overstating the situation.

“Immunity from the vaccination is still likely to protect you from severe disease. You might get a snuffle or a headache or a filthy cold but your chance of coming into hospital or intensive care or sadly dying are greatly diminished by the vaccine and still will be going into the future.”

Alternatively, a number of sources have insinuated that the new rules could merely be a distraction tactic from the Downing Street Christmas party scandal.

A damning video obtained by ITV News shows the Prime Minister’s former spokesperson Allegra Stratton on December 22nd last year being quizzed about a rumoured Christmas party, to which she laughed and joked about it instead being a ‘business meeting’ with no social distancing.

Laughing and gesturing to the camera, Stratton says: “This is recorded … This fictional party was a business meeting and it was not socially distanced.”

Prime ministerial adviser Ed Oldfield could also be seen sitting in the audience, laughing and pointing out that it ‘wasn’t a party… It was cheese and wine.’

Since the footage went viral, people across the nation have been reacting in horror, particularly those from Greater Manchester, who were living under strict Tier 3 restrictions at the time. 

Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham tweeted simply: “To think of all the sacrifices they asked people in Greater Manchester to make.”