D-day for Christmas: Boris braced to decide if he will impose Covid curbs BEFORE December 25 as Dominic Raab refuses to rule them out - despite 'at least 10 Cabinet ministers including Rishi Sunak' having doubts over dire modelling

 Boris Johnson is facing a crunch 48 hours to decide if he will impose new coronavirus curbs before Christmas as he faces a growing Cabinet revolt over a potential further crackdown to slow the spread of Omicron

The Prime Minister has been presented with three options to tackle the variant amid surging case numbers, with the lowest level of intervention consisting of advice to limit household mixing indoors, according to The Telegraph.

The second level would see mandatory restrictions on household mixing, the return of social distancing and an 8pm curfew for pubs and restaurants while the third and toughest level would see a return to something close to a full lockdown

Mr Johnson will today consider his next move, knowing that any decision to tighten Covid rules will spark a furious Tory backlash, with The Mirror reporting the PM has cleared his diary to hold meetings with scientists and his advisers. 

At least 10 Cabinet ministers are said to be resisting further curbs because they have concerns about the accuracy of expert modelling on the spread of Omicron. 

Chancellor Rishi Sunak is one of the ministers to have expressed concerns about the projected numbers, according to The Times, after SAGE warned there could be 3,000 patients a day in need of hospital treatment without urgent action. 

Sir Patrick Vallance, the Government's Chief Scientific Adviser, told the Cabinet on a call on Saturday that curbs should be rolled out as soon as possible but one third of senior ministers are said to be against the move. 

One Cabinet figure said that 'hospitals are not being overwhelmed' and 'we're in a battle to save Christmas' with one minister having made clear they will quit if there is a return to lockdown.  

Mr Johnson faces a race against time if he does want to tighten curbs before Christmas because Parliament is now in recess and it will take at least 24 hours to recall MPs to vote on any new measures. 

Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab today refused to rule out additional restrictions before Christmas Day as he said he could not make 'hard, fast guarantees'. 

The Justice Secretary insisted 'we will have a much better Christmas than last year' but said 'people will need to be careful and cautious'.  

Tory MPs last night said any attempt to toughen rules before Christmas will provoke letters seeking to oust Mr Johnson as party leader.  

Health Secretary Sajid Javid yesterday refused to rule out Covid measures coming into force before Christmas Day but ministers indicated they will not back new curbs.

The warnings from MPs and Cabinet ministers came just 24 hours after Lord Frost, up to now a close ally of Mr Johnson, dramatically quit as Brexit Minister slating 'coercive' Covid curbs and high taxes.  

Lord Frost walked out with a parting shot at the 'direction of travel' and saying he had hoped the end of lockdown would be 'irreversible'. His departure was described as a 'watershed moment' in what had been an extremely damaging week for Mr Johnson.

It came as the official number of confirmed cases of the Omicron variant yesterday rose by nearly 50 per cent to 37,000 in just 24 hours.

Families are desperate to spend Christmas together after last year's Covid lockdown rules meant millions were forced to be apart or severely scale back their celebrations.

It is understood Mr Johnson is resisting calls for restrictions ahead of December 25, but there are mounting fears they will be imposed after that, spoiling New Year plans for millions. 

Mr Javid repeatedly declined to rule out imposing tough restrictions before Christmas as he warned there are 'no guarantees' Christmas Day will go ahead without a lockdown. The Health Secretary acknowledged that data about the Omicron variant remained incomplete – but suggested it might be necessary to make decisions before a full picture is available. 

Professor Carl Heneghan, director of evidence-based medicine at Oxford University and a GP, said this morning that 'we are in deep, deep trouble of potentially talking ourselves into annual lockdowns' as he argued the question should be 'when are we going to treat people like adults?'. 

But Stephen Reicher, professor of psychology at the University of St Andrews and a member of government advisory body the Scientific Pandemic Insights Group on Behaviours (Spi-B), said 'we need to reduce our contacts'.

Asked about Christmas, he said: 'The safest thing is not to meet up before Christmas. If you want a good Christmas dinner, I would say be very careful about meeting up before Christmas.'  Boris Johnson has been presented with three options to slow the spread of the Omicron variant with the PM reportedly clearing his diary today for crunch meetings with scientists and advisers

Boris Johnson has been presented with three options to slow the spread of the Omicron variant with the PM reportedly clearing his diary today for crunch meetings with scientists and advisers

Sir Patrick Vallance, the Government's Chief Scientific Adviser, told the Cabinet during a call on Saturday that hospital admissions in England could reach 3,000 a day unless further curbs are introduced

Sir Patrick Vallance, the Government's Chief Scientific Adviser, told the Cabinet during a call on Saturday that hospital admissions in England could reach 3,000 a day unless further curbs are introduced

Dominic Raab, the Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Secretary, today refused to rule out more curbs being introduced before Christmas

Dominic Raab, the Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Secretary, today refused to rule out more curbs being introduced before Christmas

The number of confirmed cases of Omicron in England increased by 69 per cent on the previous day's total - up 9,427 to 23,168, figures from the UKHSA showed today

The number of confirmed cases of Omicron in England increased by 69 per cent on the previous day's total - up 9,427 to 23,168, figures from the UKHSA showed todayIn other coronavirus developments: 

  • The operator of the Real Greek and Franco Manca restaurant chains has urged Chancellor Rishi Sunak to announce further support for businesses 'in the next 24 hours'. 
  • Labour shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said that businesses need more support to get them through the difficult months ahead. 
  • Patricia Marquis, England director at the Royal College of Nursing, said it is looking like a 'very bleak picture' for nursing staff over the next few weeks. 
  • Professor Carl Heneghan, director of evidence-based medicine at Oxford University and a GP, said 'we are in deep, deep trouble of potentially talking ourselves into annual lockdowns'. 
  • Mr Raab said 12 people have now died with the Omicron variant but could not say how many of those were vaccinated.

Mr Raab was grilled this morning on whether people will be able to enjoy a 'great Christmas' or if they face having plans disrupted by new coronavirus restrictions. 

The Deputy PM told Sky News: 'I think we will have a much better Christmas than last year because of the vaccination level, both the overall vaccination level, particularly the impact of the booster campaign and we saw on Saturday just on one day 900,000 people get their booster.

'And I do think of course, you have heard it from the Health Secretary over the weekend, I would echo that people will need to be careful and cautious.

'But I do think that again, subject to the data and it is always under review, that we are in a better position to enjoy Christmas with loved ones this year.'

Pushed on whether there will be any more curbs imposed between now and Christmas Day, Mr Raab said: 'I just can't make hard, fast guarantees because I as I said we follow…'

He added: 'There's two things. First of all, we are in a much different place, we are in a much stronger place because of the resilience of our communities because of the high take up of the vaccine, that is something that has gone very well, not just the overall vaccine rate but the booster and we really are supercharging that through to the end of this month and through Christmas so that gives us an extra layer of resilience.

'The rules as they currently are are the best mitigation strategy that we have got but of course there is this time lag in the data.

'We know Omicron is spreading fast, we don't yet know the severity and we are reliant on seeing that data come through and it comes through day by day.'

Mr Raab was asked if he is one of the 10 Cabinet ministers opposing the SAGE modelling on the spread of Omicron and he replied: 'We always, all of us, question the advice and I don't think that should be presented in some sort of tectonic opposition to the scientists.

'The scientists will tell you that they are constantly testing the evidence and the advice amongst themselves, let alone with politicians.

'So it is quite right that we get the balance right.'

Health Secretary Mr Javid echoed a similar sentiment on new curbs yesterday as he told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show that 'there are no guarantees in this pandemic'.

He said: 'At this point we just have to keep everything under review... We are assessing the situation. It's very fast moving. There's a lot that we still don't know about Omicron. That's the truth of the matter. The reality is there's a lot of uncertainty.'

He argued that it was 'time to be more cautious', adding: 'We know this thing is spreading rapidly.'

In minutes published at the weekend, experts from the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) urged the Government to reintroduce 'more stringent measures... very soon', warning that without action, there could be a peak of 3,000 patients a day needing a hospital bed in England.

The scientists suggested reintroducing of curbs such as banning indoor social contact and hospitality. Mr Javid said the advice was 'very sobering', adding: 'We take it very seriously. We do have to challenge data and underlying assumptions, I think that is appropriate, and take into account a broader set of facts.'

New push to cut ten-day Covid isolation period to a week after experts warn that current rules could cripple the economy

Ministers are considering slashing the quarantine period for people who test positive for Covid from ten to seven days.

As reported in Saturday's Daily Mail, health experts, MPs and business leaders have called for a change, warning that the current rules risk crippling healthcare and the economy.

Anyone who is infected with the virus must isolate for ten days after first developing symptoms or testing positive. 

But the 'blunt tool' fails to account for infectiousness and is fuelling 'lockdown by stealth' by keeping so many people at home.

Now it has emerged that modelling by government scientific advisers indicates it would be possible to reduce the isolation period without having a significant impact on infection rates if people had a negative test before they were released.

Sources say the change in policy is 'being looked at' to stop the country grinding to a halt.

It even has the backing of Professor Neil Ferguson, of Imperial College London, whose doom-laden forecasts prompted previous lockdown measures.

Asked on BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Saturday how he would feel about reducing quarantine to seven days, Professor Ferguson said: 'All the modelling and analysis would suggest if it's coupled with lateral- flow testing it's not going to reduce the effectiveness of the measure that much.'

 

The Health Secretary suggested people should limit their social contact over Christmas and limit hugs with relatives.

The Prime Minister has been presented with three options to tackle the spread of the virus, according to the Daily Telegraph.

The paper reported that they range from guidance asking people to limit indoor contacts, to rules on household mixing, social distancing and a curfew on pubs and restaurants, and thirdly a full lockdown. Mr Johnson is understood to favour the most 'light touch' option.

One Cabinet minister told the newspaper that data presented by Sir Patrick and England's chief medical officer Chris Whitty on Saturday was 'just trashed by the Cabinet'.

The source said: 'There will be no more restrictions brought in by the backdoor. That would be fatal. More guidelines rather than restrictions are entirely possible.' 

'It is guidance but not regulations on household mixing,' a Government source said, adding 'The third tier is the heaviest covering everything up to and including lockdown. On the basis of the data, there are some who believe we could quite easily justify locking down before Christmas.'

Cabinet sources last night characterised the mood in Downing Street as 'jumpy'. Senior ministers believe Mr Johnson will hold off on imposing restrictions until after Christmas, but expect they could be announced within days.   

The Prime Minister has promised to recall Parliament over the festive period so MPs can hold a vote if he decides to bring in new curbs.

Questions have been raised about whether Mr Johnson even has the political capital to push through restrictions, after a massive revolt against Plan B last week and the bombshell resignation of his Brexit minister Lord Frost, highlighting the danger of 'coercive' policies.  

Around one third of the Cabinet are said to be reluctant to support new restrictions in the coming days, with Mr Johnson and Mr Sunak among them, according to The Times.

At least 10 ministers are resisting a call by Sir Patrick at the weekend for new restrictions to be brought in as soon as possible to prevent the health service being overwhelmed. 

Mark Harper, chairman of the Covid Recovery Group of lockdown-sceptic Tory MPs, urged ministers to 'hold firm' against more restrictions and not make any 'knee-jerk restrictions'.

He said: 'Lockdowns, of any kind, should not become the default policy choice. Ministers need to balance wider impacts, not just Covid data.' 

Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith said there was 'no evidence' for restrictions to be brought in ahead of Christmas.

'It would be wrong for the Government to lurch into what would be an economic crisis for the sake of supposition by scientists,' he added. 

One of the Tory rebel ringleaders said if Parliament was recalled to vote on imposing new curbs 'at least as many of us that voted against last time will do so again. If restrictions are put in place then more letters will go in.'  

Mark Harper, chairman of the Covid Recovery Group of lockdown-sceptic Tory MPs, urged ministers to 'hold firm' against more restrictions and not make any 'knee-jerk restrictions'
Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith said there was 'no evidence' for restrictions to be brought in ahead of Christmas

Mark Harper (left), chairman of the Covid Recovery Group of lockdown-sceptic Tory MPs, urged ministers to 'hold firm' against more restrictions and not make any 'knee-jerk restrictions'. Meanwhile former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith (right) said there was 'no evidence' for restrictions to be brought in ahead of Christmas

A busy Oxford Street and Regent Street in central London on the last shopping Sunday before Christmas

A busy Oxford Street and Regent Street in central London on the last shopping Sunday before Christmas

In interviews this morning, Health Secretary Sajid Javid said the government has to use the 'data that we have got' and infections were rising quickly 

Two million per day need jab to hit PM's end of year pledge

by STEPHEN WYNN-DAVIES for MailOnline

Boris Johnson's plan to get every adult boosted by the end of the year descended into chaotic disarray yesterday despite Sajid Javid boasting of a record 900,000 jabs being administered.

The pledge to jab 1m adults a day has still not been hit, and it now means 2.1m adults must receive a booster every day – including on Christmas Day an Boxing Day – if the government has any hope of achieving its target. 

Official figures show a daily record of 986,689 were vaccinated on Saturday, including 904,598 receiving booster jabs. Health Secretary Sajid Javid had previously said 906,656 received their vaccines, with more than 830,000 receiving boosters, but later on Sunday evening the figures were updated to include the higher numbers.

The new figures mean that more than 28million people in the UK have now received a booster jab, but there are still more than 26million people aged over 18 who are yet to have their third dose.

It means that now more than 2million adults need to be vaccinated every day for the PM to hit his target, including bank holidays Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

Launching what he described as the 'Omicron Emergency Boost' last week, Mr Johnson said everyone over the age of 18 would be offered their booster before the New Year and that in order to deliver the necessary jabs by the end of the year 'we'll need to match the NHS's best vaccination day yet – and then beat it day after day'.

At the time, 23,124,829 people - 40.2 per cent of people aged 12 and over in the UK - had received a booster jab, meaning the rollout would have needed to administer around one million jabs a day to hit the PM's target.

However, in the six days since Mr Johnson's announcement, around 5million more people have received their booster - approximately 830,000 people each day - which is well below the numbers required to achieve Mr Johnson's pledge. 

The figures come as Mr Javid hit out at people who have chosen not to be vaccinated against coronavirus as they 'take up hospital beds' that could be used for patients in need.

Mr Javid criticised those who are eligible for a jab but have decided not to take up the offer, saying they are having a 'damaging impact' on others.

He said 10 per cent of the eligible population - more than five million people - still had not received their jabs, and around nine out of 10 of those needing the most care in hospital were unvaccinated.

Speaking on Trevor Phillips On Sunday on Sky News, he said: 'I just cannot emphasise enough the impact that they are having on the rest of society.

'They must really think about the damage they are doing to society by... they take up hospital beds that could have been used for someone with maybe a heart problem, or maybe someone who is waiting for elective surgery.

'But instead of protecting themselves and protecting the community they choose not to get vaccinated.

'They are really having a damaging impact and I just can't stress enough, please do come forward and get vaccinated.'

One Cabinet minister said they would resign if Mr Johnson introduced another full lockdown to stop the spread of the virus.

A source told The Daily Telegraph that returning to lockdown was a 'red line' after the Prime Minister has said the previous easing of restrictions was 'irreversible'. A senior Tory MP also warned there would be an 'eruption' on the backbenches if new measures were introduced. 

Mr Sunak, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps and Jacob Rees-Mogg are all understood to be against further restrictions, with one minister telling the newspaper: 'The Cabinet aren't stomaching any more restrictions right now.'   

Mr Johnson is also understood to be reluctant to implement further restrictions before Christmas. One ally told The Times: 'He's of the view that people are self-policing to an extent and getting boosted in big numbers.'

A Cabinet minister said that there would be a backlash if Mr Johnson adopted a ban on households mixing and the closure of non-essential shops.  

'The Cabinet aren't stomaching any more restrictions right now,' a Cabinet minister told The Telegraph. 'Apart from the fanatics, Michael Gove and Sajid Javid, the rest of them are pretty sensible, including the PM.'

While the PM has promised to recall Parliament so MPs can hold a vote if he decides to bring in new curbs, Bob Blackman, executive secretary of the 1922 Committee, said he believed the threat of another Tory rebellion would mean Mr Johnson would not dare even put further restrictions to a vote. 

Mr Blackman told The Telegraph: 'If they thought they had a problem getting the last restrictions through, you can imagine what will happen if they come back for another go. The mood of colleagues is: 'Enough is enough'.

'Ministers have got into the habit of thinking that they have a right to interfere in people's family lives and livelihoods. They have no such right.

'What is more, the toll in terms of mental health, delayed treatment for other conditions and the catastrophic consequences for businesses, already shows this failed approach does more harm than good. If ministers took a few days off over Christmas, we would all have something to celebrate.'

Britain yesterday recorded 82,886 Covid cases, which is lower than Saturday's figure of 90,418. 

But the number of cases has risen by 32,473, or 64.4 per cent, in seven days. 

Some 45 deaths were recorded yesterday, a decrease of 66 from last week's 111 and a percentage decrease of 59.5. 

And cases of the Omicron variant have risen by 50 per cent in just 24 hours to 37,101 as the UK Health Security Agency confirmed a further 12,133 cases today. 

Medical and science chiefs Chris Whitty and Sir Patrick briefed the Cabinet yesterday that more measures are required to stop hospital admissions soaring above 3,000 per day in England. 

Modelling suggests the peak could be as high as 10,000 and the daily death toll might reach 6,000.

However, there is deep resistance among ministers about the prospect of plunging millions of people back into lockdown wrecking Christmas again while evidence remains unclear.  

Former minister Tim Loughton told The Telegraph: 'Wrecking people's Christmas for a second year running would go down incredibly badly. 

'If it is based on more of the sort of dodgy modelling which led to previous knee-jerk lockdown reactions which did untold damage and lots of unintended consequences then it must be challenged at all costs and Parliament must be given the opportunity to challenge it.'

 

Tory MP Steve Baker, the deputy chair of the Covid recovery group, warned there would be an 'extremely adverse' reaction from Tory MPs who were told there would be no more restrictions. 

'If that word is broken within days, there will be real dismay that promises were made to secure votes, then further restrictions came in. That sort of conduct cannot go on for long,' he said.

The fast-moving nature of the situation was underlined tonight as the official number of confirmed cases rose by nearly 50 per cent to 37,000, with another 12,000 identified in 24 hours. There are believed to be far more infections as many either go undiagnosed or will not have been tested for yet.  

Mr Javid appeared to hint at a looming shift when he said the SAGE analysis was 'sobering' and the government is ready to 'do what is necessary'. 

Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, Mr Javid said in his former career as a trader the 'most important decisions' were taken when data were 'early and patchy, but a trend was emerging'. 'Once that trend leads to a clear outcome, it may be too late to react to it,' he wrote. 

SAGE papers from a meeting on Thursday caution that delaying curbs until 2022 would 'greatly reduce the effectiveness of such interventions and make it less likely that these would prevent considerable pressure on health and care settings.'

The advisers suggested reintroducing measures 'equivalent to those in place after step 2 or step 1 of the roadmap in England'. 

At the first stage of the roadmap in March this year only one-on-one mixing was allowed outside of households, and non-essential retail was still shut. At the second stage the following month bars and restaurants could serve customers outdoors, and households were not permitted to mix indoors.  

Mr Johnson is thought to be sceptical of an immediate response and there would be considerable opposition within his Cabinet to further curbs. 

One minister told the Sunday Times: 'We can't have a situation where we lock down every winter and kill off the economy. 

'We need to stop reading across what is happening in South Africa in terms of what is happening here. It is like comparing apples with pears.'

There is speculation that instead the 'handbrake would be pulled' after December 25, with claims an announcement has been pencilled in for Boxing Day. 

Boris Johnson has so far refused scientists' pleas for a last-ditch Christmas lockdown to quell the spread of the Omicron mutant variant

Boris Johnson has so far refused scientists' pleas for a last-ditch Christmas lockdown to quell the spread of the Omicron mutant variant 

Covid hospital admissions have spiked by more than a third in a week in Britain's Omicron hotspot of London, official data shows. Some 199 infected patients were admitted to wards in London on Tuesday, the most recent day UKHSA figures are available for

Covid hospital admissions have spiked by more than a third in a week in Britain's Omicron hotspot of London, official data shows 

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