The Omicron variant could put 1,000 people in hospital a day by the end of the year, Sage has warned according to TheSun. It comes as Boris Johnson has triggered Plan B restrictions that will require Brits to work from home and use vaccine passports imminently. It means:
- face masks will be compulsory in all indoor settings from Friday
- the public will be encouraged to work from home where possible from Monday
- Vaccine passports for crowded venues will be required from next Wednesday
- People should not cancel their Christmas parties but get tested
- No more restrictions should be expected in the long term
From Monday the guidance – but not the law – will change asking all but key workers to work remotely as they did from March last year to July’s Freedom Day.
According to the Wallstreet Journal, The news is a sign of increasing concern over the trajectory of the Omicron variant, which British authorities say could crowd out the currently dominant Delta variant within weeks and result in over a million total Covid-19 infections by the end of the month. Britain has recorded 10.6 million cases over the course of the whole pandemic.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Wednesday that the nation had to be humble in the face of the virus and pointed to the stark figures coming out of South Africa, where the variant has already taken hold.
“We are seeing growth in cases here in the U.K. that now mirrors the rapid increases previously seen in South Africa,” said Mr. Johnson. “And South Africa has also seen hospitalizations roughly doubling in a week.”
