Face masks mandatory in shops in England, transport from Tuesday

Health Secretary Sajid Javid said the requirement for mandatory PCR testing for all foreign arrivals in the UK would also be implemented “as soon as possible”.

The minister stressed that he expects all new measures being introduced to give scientists more time to analyze Omicron’s infectivity and vaccine-resistance levels, which will be raised again “within weeks”.

Javid, in reference to Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s announcement of tougher restrictions from Downing, said: “The reason we set these measures yesterday is so that with the progress we have made, we can all continue to enjoy Christmas with our families.” Huh.” Street on Saturday evening.

“It’s about protecting the progress we’ve made … but it’s important to react in a proportionate and temporary way, I hope this is something we can pull off within weeks,” he said.

In other parts of the United Kingdom – Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland – face coverings are already mandatory on public transport and in many indoor settings.

The opposition Labor Party has expressed concerns that the new rules are not enough to implement the government’s so-called “Plan B”, which will see work from home directives and vaccine passports for locations.

“If someone has to make decisions like this, they have to do it very carefully, we’re not there yet, we’re nowhere,” Javid told Sky News.

The new measures have raised fears over another closed Christmas, but both Johnson and Javid have sought to ease those concerns and insist that the festive period of 2021 will be better than 2020.

“People should continue with their plans for Christmas as normal, I think it’s going to be a great Christmas,” Javid said.

The Omicron variant, feared to spread rapidly and partly reduce the safety of the vaccine, was identified in South Africa earlier this week and classified as a variant of concern by the World Health Organization (WHO). . Since then cases have been detected in Belgium, Israel and Hong Kong, and in Europe as well as two cases in England. Both UK cases have been linked to travel in southern Africa, and targeted testing is planned in areas around south and central England where the variant was detected.

“It’s more important than ever that people fill their pockets, and we get those boosters up in arms as quickly as possible,” Johnson said Saturday, announcing plans to “boost the booster campaign.”

“We are already planning to do 6 million jobs in England alone over the next three weeks. And now we are looking to go further, so the health secretary has asked JCVI [Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation] Consider giving boosters to as many groups as possible, as well as to reduce the gap between your second dose and your boosters,” he said.

“We don’t yet know exactly how effective our vaccines will be against Omicron, but we have good reasons to believe that they will provide at least some protection. And if you are promoted – your feedback likely to strengthen,” he said. added.

Meanwhile, the UK has now banned air travel from 10 countries – Angola, Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia, South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, Zimbabwe and Namibia.

In addition, anyone who enters the UK from abroad will now be required to undergo a PCR test and self-isolate until a negative result is obtained. And people who come into contact with someone who tests positive for the Omicron variant will need to self-isolate for 10 days – even if they are fully vaccinated.

The new variant is considered potentially more dangerous because it has about twice as many mutations as the highly transmissible delta variant, but it may take weeks for scientists to fully understand the mutation of the variant and whether existing vaccines and treatments protect against it. are effective.

Meanwhile, the UK reported a slight drop in its daily coronavirus infection rate, recording 39,567 cases and 131 COVID deaths on Saturday.