Pubs and restaurants are not closing, the PM insists – but he and Prof Chris Whitty urge caution.
The prime minister and England’s chief medical officer have urged the public to be cautious if they socialise before Christmas, amid record UK Covid cases.
At Wednesday’s news conference, Boris Johnson said he was not shutting pubs and restaurants but advised people to “think carefully before you go”.
Speaking alongside the PM, Prof Chris Whitty urged people not to “mix with people you don’t have to”.
He warned more Covid records would be broken as the Omicron variant surges.
The UK recorded 78,610 new Covid cases on Wednesday – the highest daily number since the start of the pandemic.
Prof Whitty said the country was experiencing “two epidemics on top of one another”, one driven by the “very rapidly-growing” Omicron and the other by the Delta variant.
He said Omicron was “moving at an absolutely phenomenal pace” and that it would only be a short time until the UK saw “very large numbers” of infections.
“I’m afraid we have to be realistic that records will be broken a lot over the next few weeks as the rates continue to go up,” he said.
Prof Whitty said key data was still needed on hospitalisations, severe disease and deaths from Omicron. But he warned: “All the things that we do know (about Omicron) are bad.”
As a result, he told the public “don’t mix with people you don’t have to” and urged them to prioritise events and celebrations “that really matter to them”.
“Because otherwise the risk of someone getting infected at something that doesn’t really matter to them – and then not being able to do the things that matter to them – obviously goes up.”
Prof Whitty also said: “I think there’s a high chance that my original Christmas plans with family are going to be interrupted.”
Mr Johnson said the public were showing a “general instinct to be more cautious”.
Reiterating his belief that this Christmas will be “considerably better” than last year, Mr Johnson insisted the government was not closing hospitality, cancelling parties or stopping people mixing with one another.
But he urged people to “think carefully” before they attend events, adding: “What kind of event is it? Are you likely to meet people who are vulnerable, are you going to meet loads of people you haven’t met before? And get a test.”
As cases go up there will be more and more pressure to introduce restrictions – perhaps even a full lockdown.
That is understandable. But it is also important to remember restrictions don’t stop the epidemic – they just prolong it.
That can be used to buy time. Last winter the lockdown allowed the rollout of vaccines.
But with more than 80% of the most vulnerable boosted, the benefits of a lockdown are much lower this time.
The costs, however, are the same – perhaps greater considering what people have endured so far in terms of the harm to jobs, mental health and education.
- You can read Nick’s full analysis here
The warnings from Mr Johnson and Prof Whitty have prompted fresh calls for support to businesses suffering from the rise in Covid cases.
As pubs and restaurants suffer from cancelled bookings, UK Hospitality called for business rates to be deferred and VAT discounts extended.
Meanwhile, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) will soon begin including Covid re-infections in its daily reported case numbers, amid early evidence that suggests Omicron has made people more likely to catch Covid again, the BBC’s Health editor Hugh Pym says.
Currently, people who infected for a second time are reported separately in the weekly Covid surveillance report, rather than the daily figures.
