OMIGONE
Omicron IS in retreat & we will live with it like flu after epic ‘national mission’, says Sajid Javid as Plan B scrapped
BRITAIN is over the worst of Omicron and on a clear path to living with Covid, Sajid Javid cheered today as Plan B was entirely dumped.
The Health Secretary championed the well-oiled booster rollout for allowing Boris Johnson to rip up the rules and make us Europe's freest nation.
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At a Downing St press conference he hailed the step "the culmination of a brilliant national mission that helped us to withstand the current wave and restore more freedom to this country".
But he warned the job was not yet done and said people would likely need to get jabs every year.
In major developments:
- The PM endured a bruising PMQs as a Tory MP defected to Labour
- Masks in will be dropped in classrooms tomorrow as revealed by The Sun
- Self-isolation rules should expire on March 24, the PM said
- Mr Johnson said that Omicron has now "peaked nationally"
- BoJo warned boosters will be increasingly needed for international travel
- The PM resisted pressure to scrap mandatory vaccination for NHS staff
Hated vaccine passports will be dumped along with requirement to wear face masks anywhere indoors next week.
The guidance to work from home has been dropped effective immediately - meaning Brits can go back to the office tomorrow.
The remaining rules will expire on January 26 meaning the changes will kick in next Thursday morning.
Mr Javid said Omicron is "in retreat" but warned that now is not the "finish line" in the fight against coronavirus.
Saying there is a fall in infections and hospital admissions, Mr Javid said: "This plan has worked and the data shows that Omicron is in retreat."
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He described the relaxation of measures as a "major milestone", adding: "But it's not the end of the road and we shouldn't see this as the finish line because we cannot eradicate this virus and its future variants.
"Instead we must learn to live with Covid in the same way we have to live with flu. And we will be setting out our long-term plan for living with Covid-19 this spring."
At-risk children under the age of 12 will be vaccinated, the Health Secretary told a Downing Street press conference.
Mr Javid said the JCVI advises "that we should vaccinate under-12s that are at risk and that is exactly what we plan to do, and we will start that this month, but they are keeping that under review to see if we should expand that more broadly to everyone in that cohort".
Meanwhile, Boris Johnson said: "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."
Triumphant Mr Johnson hailed the success of the booster campaign that has allowed him to rip up nearly all remaining curbs.
Volunteers with The Sun's Jabs Army have been working heroically to help turbo-charge the rollout.
Mr Johnson also felt vindicated for resisting doomster calls to impose tougher measures as Omicron surged over Christmas.
The PM told MPs: "Many nations across Europe have endured further winter lockdowns... While we must continue to remain cautious, the data are showing that time and again, this government, got the toughest decisions, right."
He pointed to falling Covid cases falling as experts grow increasingly confident the country is over the hump of Omicron.
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While "significant pressures on the NHS" persist, the PM said hospitalisations have now stabilised and are even falling in London.
But embattled Mr Johnson is also widely seen as dropping Plan B to sooth lockdown-hating rebels threatening to blow apart his premiership.
Yet the PM denied this and in rallying cry cheered: "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."
I GOT NEW RULES
From Thursday morning face masks will no longer be legally required anywhere in the country.
Brits will still be urged to wear masks in crowded places, but will not be fined for refusing to do so.
At the same time Covid passports will be axed but similarly big venues can choose to use them if wanted.
Guidance to work from home will be dropped, with workers expected to go back to their offices.
The only remaining rule will be the requirement to self-isolate for five days after testing positive for Covid, which Mr Johnson also wants to drop in March.
Yesterday, the UK's daily Covid cases dropped 21 per cent on last week.
There were 94,432 new cases in the past 24 hours, with 438 fatalities also recorded.
Deaths have risen compared to the past few days, but are still not near the levels seen in the Alpha peak last year of over 1,000.
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This fits with the pattern of a Covid wave, however - a few weeks on from high cases, some extra deaths will now sadly catch up for those harder hit with the virus.
This time last week there had been 120,821 new daily cases recorded, as the country shows promising signs of the variant wave having peaked.
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