Boris Johnson confirms no further restrictions in Downing Street Press conference

The Prime Minister said there is “there is no easy answer to a problem like Omicron”.

He said the best way to help the NHS is for everyone to follow Plan B and get a booster.

He said so many people going into hospital have not been vaccinated.

He said: “There’s no easy restriction on people’s lives or livelihoods. And the best thing I think we can do now is to continue to follow the guidance, protect our NHS in the way that that we are, increase the support that we’re giving to the NHS and as you know, you’ve heard from what I said earlier on, we’re increasing the numbers of staff, we have got a record number of people working in the NHS now than at any time in the past.”

Mr Johnson added that the Government will continue to “watch what happens very closely”, but noted: “We think that this is the right approach to take. It’s a balanced approach. It has to balance a lot of considerations.

“It has to balance the the effect on people’s lives and livelihoods of lockdowns, which are painful, which take away people’s life chances and which do a great deal of social damage, damage to people’s mental health as well as damage to the economy.

“So it’s a difficult balance to strike. But that is that is where we are.”

The Prime Minister said, despite the high number of coronavirus cases being recorded in the UK, there was a “chance” extra restrictions would not be needed in England.

Boris Johnson told a press briefing in Downing Street: “But our position today differs from previous waves in two crucial respects.

“First, we now know that Omicron is milder than previous variants, so while hospital admissions are rising quickly, with over 15,000 Covid patients now in hospital in England alone, this is not yet, thankfully, translating into the same numbers needing intensive care that we saw in previous waves.

“Second, thanks to the fantastic national effort to get Britain boosted, we now have a substantial level of protection, higher than any of our European neighbours, with over 34 million boosters administered, including in England reaching more than 90% of the over 70s and 86% of the over 50s.

“And so, together with the Plan B measures that we introduced before Christmas, we have a chance to ride out this Omicron wave without shutting down our country once again.

“We can keep our schools and our businesses open and we can find a way to live with this virus.”

Mr Johnson said around 100,000 critical workers will now be required to take daily Covid tests.

They will take daily lateral flow tests to help keep essential services open.

He told a Downing Street news conference staff working in areas such as food processing, transport and the Border Force would be sent test kits for every working day from January 10.

“As the NHS moves to a war footing I will be recommending to Cabinet tomorrow we continue with Plan B because the public have responded and changed their behaviour buying valuable time to get boosters in arms,” he said.

Boris Johnson said the latest record Covid case figures showed that those who believed the pandemic to be over were “profoundly wrong”.

Speaking at a press briefing in Downing Street, the Prime Minister said: “Our United Kingdom is in the midst of the fastest growth in Covid cases that we’ve ever known.

“Previous waves of the pandemic didn’t have a single day with more than 100,000 new cases reported, one day last week we had 200,000 people test positive.

“And the latest figure today is another 218,000, though that includes some delayed reports.

“So anyone who thinks our battle with Covid is over, I’m afraid is profoundly wrong.

“This is a moment for the utmost caution.”

Boris Johnson says the country will continue with Plan B.

These are the steps Mr Johnson has asked the public to take:

- Work from home

- Wear facemasks

- Take a test

- Follow relevant rules in Scotland and Wales

- Get the booster

On-site Nightingale hospitals to return, Prime Minister confirms.

“We will find a way to live with this virus” the Prime Minister has said, as he said he will not impose lockdown.

The NHS is facing significant pressure as it copes with the latest wave of Covid-19 despite hopes that cases should start to drop in the coming weeks.

Boris Johnson will lead a Downing Street press conference as No 10 admitted that the health service is facing a “difficult time” during a “challenging winter”.

But Health Secretary Sajid Javid said there was nothing in the data that suggested England needed to move beyond the current Plan B restrictions.

“I think Plan B, implementing that, has been the right approach and also being absolutely focused on the vaccination programme,” he told reporters during a visit to a vaccination centre in south London.

Officials in Whitehall are keeping an “extremely close eye” on hospital capacity, with admissions and occupancy “increasing significantly”, Downing Street said.

But the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “We’re not seeing that same jump in beds requiring ventilation, which is pleasing, and almost certainly a function of both the nature of Omicron and our successful booster programme.”

He added that the vaccinations and “evidence that Omicron may be milder” means “we are not seeing those huge waves in cases translate into those needing the most serious care that we saw perhaps in previous waves, but that still puts the NHS under significant pressure”.

A further 218,724 lab-confirmed Covid-19 cases have been recorded in England and Scotland as of 9am on Tuesday, the Government said, the first time the figure has been over 200,000.

The Government also said a further 48 people had died in England within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19.

Separate figures published by the Office for National Statistics show there have now been 174,000 deaths registered in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.

Tuesday’s figures contain some delayed reporting of cases because of the holiday period.

A total of 15,044 people were in hospital in England with Covid-19 as of 8am on January 4, according to figures from NHS England.

This is up 58% from a week earlier and is the highest number since February 18.

During the second wave of coronavirus, the number peaked at 34,336 on January 18.

In London, 3,993 people were in hospital with Covid-19 on January 4, up 32% week on week and the highest number since February 11.

In north-east England and Yorkshire, patient numbers are up 99% week on week to 2,146, the highest since February 21, while in north-west England numbers are up 88% week-on-week to 2,618, the highest since February 15.