Sajid Javid: we’re nowhere near imposing social distancing Covid rules

No plans to make people wear masks in pubs or ask them to work from home, health secretary says, despite Omicron fears

The government is “nowhere near” having to reimpose mandatory social distancing and home working to mitigate the threat from the Omicron Covid variant, Sajid Javid has said, adding that he hoped other new measures could be removed within weeks.

Beginning a morning of media interviews after Boris Johnson announced rules to combat the variant, including compulsory masks on public transport and in shops, the health secretary called the plans “proportionate and balanced”.

Continue reading...

Coronavirus | The Guardian

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Omicron could overwhelm NHS if it is as virulent as Delta, Neil Ferguson says

Exclusive: UK already experiencing ‘very explosive wave of infection’ from new variant, top scientist says Coronavirus – latest updates See all our coronavirus coverage The Omicron variant has the potential to “very substantially overwhelm the NHS” and cause up to 10,000 hospitalisations a day if it is as virulent as Delta, according to a leading scientist who helped shape Britain’s coronavirus lockdown strategy. Prof Neil Ferguson, a mathematical epidemiologist from Imperial College London, said the UK was already experiencing a “very explosive wave of infection” from the new variant. This could lead to “quite an explosive wave of hospitalisations,” depending on the severity of disease caused by Omicron. Continue reading... Coronavirus | The Guardian
Read more

Ministers accused of sowing confusion over England’s travel advice

Government criticised for sending out mixed messages about traffic-light system for foreign travel Coronavirus – latest updates See all our coronavirus coverage Ministers have been accused of sowing confusion over what foreign travel is permitted for people in England after sending out mixed messages relating to its traffic light system. On Wednesday, the education minister Gillian Keegan urged people to be “sensible” and not travel to “amber list” countries for holidays, but her comments followed differing advice the day before. Continue reading... Coronavirus | The Guardian
Read more

VAT: from Covid tests to child car seats, there are calls to ‘scrap the tax’

The ‘tampon tax’ was the most high-profile campaign but now, with 20% on coronavirus kits, others are gaining pace The start of 2021 brought with it the end of the “tampon tax”. After years of campaigning , the government finally accepted the argument that sanitary products are an essential product, not a luxury, and should be treated as such for VAT purposes. Now, as with most food and children’s clothing, they attract a zero rate of tax. The tampon tax campaign was the loudest relating to VAT rates in recent memory but it’s certainly not the only one. Continue reading... Coronavirus | The Guardian
Read more